The way Venkatesh Iyer played was outstanding - KKR skipper showers praise on youngster

Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Eoin Morgan was in all praise for Venkatesh Iyer who made his IPL debut against Royal Challengers Bangalore and impressed Morgan with his unbeaten knock of 41 of 27 deliveries to see his side through to the paltry victory target of 93 runs.

Venkatesh Iyer looked in complete command of proceedings and never looked like playing his first game. His strokeplay was of the highest order and the opening partnership with Shubman Gill laid the foundation for the easy run chase. The Madhya Pradesh opener struck 7 fours and a six during his undefeated knock.

"Venkatesh Iyer, the way he came in and played was outstanding. Certainly, the brand of cricket we want to play. Playing under head coach Brendon McCullum, this is the aggressive nature of cricket we want to play," Morgan was quoted as saying during a virtual post-match press conference.

"Although he was aggressive, he managed to control his innings. His opening partnership with Shubman Gill was beautiful to watch," he added.

It was an exceptional bowling performance from KKR to restrict a star-studded RCB batting line-up to a paltry 92 runs. Varun Chakravarthy and Andre Russell bagged three wickets apiece to dismantle the RCB batting.

Despite the pitch assisting pacers, Chakravarthy produced some magic deliveries to get three crucial wickets. Meanwhile, Russell bagged the huge wicket of AB de Villiers for a golden duck. Morgan accepted that the match-ups with Rusell worked perfectly.

"Yeah, I think the match-ups with Andre Russell really worked. The pitch the way it played throughout the whole innings was more seamer-friendly even though Varun had an unbelievable day. I thought the pitch assisted the seamers with big size boundaries," Morgan said.

Kolkata Knight Riders are currently occupying the 5th spot in the points table with 3 wins from 8 games. They have to win at least 4 to 5 of their remaining six games to harbour hopes of going through to the playoffs.

"Yeah, there is no doubt that it will be a challenge from here onwards, but our main aim is to turn up and play cricket as we did with RCB. If we do that, then we give ourselves the best chance of progressing to the playoffs," he added.

Kolkata Knight Riders will lock horns against the defending champions Mumbai Indians next on September 23 (Thursday).

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We have a long way to go: Eoin Morgan hails team for perfect start against RCB

After a below-par performance in the first half of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Kolkata Knight Riders bounced back strongly in the second half of the season thrashing Royal Challengers Bangalore by 9 wickets in a thoroughly convincing display of all-round performance. Following their impressive showing, captain Eoin Morgan lauded the team for a perfect start despite accepting the fact that they haven’t quite shown up for the major part of the tournament. "We're not going to knock people for playing their shots. We have a long way to go, need a lot of things to go right. Today's the right start, need that run of confidence. We haven't turned up for the majority of the tournament, but today was a great start," Morgan said at the post-match presentation. "Very rarely do you perform as well as we have today. The talent we have within our squad, it counts for nothing, you have to still go out and show how strong you are and we did today." the stylish left-hander added. Despite the fall of Virat Kohli’s wicket early, it was the duo of Devdutt Padikkal and KS Bharat who scored freely and shared a partnership of 31 runs before the slide began. RCB kept losing wickets at regular intervals which never really allowed them to accelerate the scoring rate. Eventually, they could only manage 92 in their allotted 20 overs. "RCB started well, but taking a wicket at the backend of the powerplay changed things for us. Collectively, we took valuable wickets. Maxwell, AB, Virat - we managed to get on top of all of them, it's very rare as well," Morgan said.

Varun Chakravarthy will be a key factor in the World Cup says Virat Kohli

Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli heaped praises on mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy after his exceptional spell of spin bowling helped Kolkata Knight Riders restart their IPL campaign in a dramatic manner. The Virat Kohli led RCB was skittled out of a paltry 92 runs after batting first with Chakravarthy finishing with figures of 3/13 in his allotted 4 overs. Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Kohli said that Chakravarthy will be a vital cog for India in the upcoming T20 World Cup. Before the abrupt suspension of the league back in May, Chakravarthy was at his best and continued the good work for his franchise. "Pretty good from Varun. He's going to be a key factor when he plays for India. It's great guys who've got the opportunity to play at the international level. He's someone who is going to play in the near future for India, it's a great sign," Kohli said of Chakravarthy. It was Kohli who won the toss and opted to bat. It was a disastrous start for RCB as they lost their skipper very early. After a few crisp shots from Devdutt Padikkal, he had to bite the dust as well. The KKR bowlers were all over the RCB middle-order batsmen, especially in the middle overs. AB de Villiers was castled for a golden by a sensational yorker from Andre Russell. Kohli said that it was a bit of a wake-up call for the team who is still at the 3rd position in the points table with 5 wins from 8 outings. "Was important to get a good partnership. We didn't expect that much dew to kick in that early. From 42 for 1, we lost 5 wickets for 20-odd. Bit of a wake-up call. Might as well have this at the start of the second leg so that we know what we should work on," Kohli said. "We have five wins from eight, we expect a loss here and there, it's part and parcel, need to be professional, stick to our strengths and execute our plans. We have absolute confidence in our squad to pull up next game onwards and put in strong performances," Kohli further added.

Security tightened around New Zealand women's team in England after receiving threat

Security personnel has been tightened around the New Zealand women’s cricket team who is currently in England for a white ball series after a threat was received ahead of the 3rd ODI which is slated to be played in Leicester. However, the match is set to go on as the threat wasn’t deemed credible by New Zealand cricket. Reports in ESPNcricinfos states a member of the New Zealand team management received a threat about a bomb being placed at the team hotel. It must be learnt that they were also warned of a possible attempt of placing a bomb on their return flight to New Zealand. The team went into lockdown before police and counter-terrorism agencies were called up. It looked possible that the match could be called off after New Zealand players didn’t train at the Grace Road. However, the NZC spokesperson clarified that they were not supposed to train there and that has no bearing on the match going on. "As has been reported, the ECB have received a threatening email relating to NZC. Although this did not specifically reference the White Ferns it was treated seriously, investigated, and deemed not credible,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. "The White Ferns have now arrived in Leicester and, as a precaution, security around them has been boosted. Reports their training has been cancelled are false. They were not scheduled to train today as it was a travelling day. NZC will not be commenting further on the matter,” he further added. It must be noted that the New Zealand men’s team recently aborted the tour of Pakistan on the day of the scheduled start of the ODI series. It is believed that they received a credible threat which prompted the hasty decision which has put Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) under severe pressure. The pressure only mounted when even the English men’s team confirmed that they won’t be travelling to Pakistan either for the white ball tour.

Amidst cancelled tours and heartbreaks, PCB rope in Pakistan stars to cheer up fans in National T20

The turmoil in Pakistan cricket doesn’t seem to end as, after New Zealand’s sudden tour abandonment, England too decided to pull out from their proposed tour of the South Asian nation which was going to take place in October. Both of England’s Men’s and Women’s teams were about to tour Pakistan for two T20Is and an ODI and a T20I series respectively starting October 15. However, heeding the advice of the newly appointed Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Rameez Raja, the management decided to give something back to the fans and roped in all international stars for the upcoming National T20, the premier domestic t20 tournament for the country. The likes of Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Afridi and Shadab Khan will be seen plying their trades. Veterans like Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez and Sarfaraz Ahmed would also be playing in the league. PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja called this tournament an ideal opportunity for the Pakistan team to prepare for the upcoming T20 World Cup. “Following the postponement of the New Zealand series, the National T20 provides an opportunity to our elite cricketers to maintain their focus and composure, show the world that they have not been distracted by the events of last week and continue with their preparations for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup,” Raja was quoted as saying in a press release. The league would be played in two phases starting with the first phase f 15 matches at Pindi Stadium, Rawalpindi and then the next phase of matches including the semi-final and the final at the Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore. Squads Balochistan – Imam-ul-Haq (captain), Bismillah Khan (vice-captain and wicketkeeper), Abdul Wahid Bangalzai, Akbar-ur-Rehman, Akif Javed, Amad Butt, Ayaz Tasawar, Gohar Faiz, Haris Sohail, Jalat Khan, Junaid Khan, Kashif Bhatti, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Ibrahim Snr, Umaid Asif and Yasir Shah Central Punjab – Babar Azam (captain), Hasan Ali (vice-captain), Abdullah Shafique, Ahmed Safi Abdullah, Ahmed Shehzad, Ehsan Adil, Faheem Ashraf, Hussain Talat, Kamran Akmal (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Akhlaq (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Hafeez, Qasim Akram, Saif Badar, Shoaib Malik, Usman Qadir, Wahab Riaz and Waqas Maqsood Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Shaheen Shah Afridi (vice-captain), Adil Amin, Arshad Iqbal, Asif Afridi, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imran Khan Snr, Israrullah, Maaz Khan, Mohammad Haris (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Imran Khan, Mohammad Wasim, Mussadiq Ahmed and Sahibzada Farhan Northern – Shadab Khan (captain), Mohammad Nawaz (vice-captain), Rohail Nazir (wicketkeeper), Ali Imran, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Imad Wasim, Musa Khan, Nasir Nawaz, Salman Irshad, Sohail Akhtar, Sohail Tanvir, Umer Amin, Zaman Khan and Zeeshan Malik Sindh – Sarfaraz Ahmed (captain and wicketkeeper), Anwar Ali (vice-captain), Abrar Ahmed, Ahsan Ali, Danish Aziz, Hassan Mohsin, Khurram Manzoor, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Taha, Ruman Raees, Saud Shakeel, Shan Masood, Shahnawaz Dahani, Sharjeel Khan and Zahid Mahmood Southern Punjab – Sohaib Maqsood (captain), Zeeshan Ashraf (vice-captain), Amir Yamin, Azam Khan (wicketkeeper), Dilbar Hussain, Faisal Akram, Hassan Khan, Imran Randhawa, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Ilyas, Naseem Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Umer Khan, Zain Abbas and Zia-ul-Haq