'Don't Want to Look at the Points Table': Iyer's KKR Want to Qualify for Playoffs 'As Early as Possible'

Another victory this season may have taken Kolkata Knight Riders’s (KKR) points tally to 12 but they still need to cross a few more hurdles to grab the seat in the playoffs. Even the skipper, Shreyas Iyer knows it very well as he addressed the same after his team’s 7-wicket win over the Delhi Capitals (DC) on Monday night at Eden Gardens.

The Knights continued their dominance at home with their openers firing all cylinders. Phil Salt capitalised on a reprieve on 15 to smash a 33-ball 68, hammering five sixes and seven fours in a 79-run opening wicket partnership with Sunil Narine that came off just 38 balls. Later, Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer completed the chase as KKR cantered home in 16.3 overs to improve their net run-rate to 1.096.

Speaking at the post-match presentation, KKR captain Iyer said the team has been keeping a close on the qualification scenario as they look to qualify as early as possible.

“We have always been looking at it, even from the first game. The mindset is to qualify as early as possible. Just work on our work ethic and processes, don’t want to look at the points table,” Iyer told the broadcasters.

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The KKR batters faired enough on Kolkata’s two-paced wicket with Salt giving a perfect start to the small chase. Earlier, Chakravarthy (3/16) shone in the middle overs following Vaibhav Arora’s fine start (2/29) that limited Delhi to a modest 153/9 after Rishabh Pant opted to bat.

Heaping praise on both star performers, Iyer said, “After the powerplay, the pitch started helping the spinners, was tacky. We got a fair idea as to how it played and to tackle the tackiness.”

“Narine still does not attend those meetings but Salt is always there, gives us his inputs and it’s pure bliss to see him coming up and doing all this.”

“Varun has not been at his best the last few games. He has been assessing the wicket and has been giving us inputs. The way he turned up today was simply brilliant,” he added.