Chennai, Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer on Wednesday said he “loves chasing on any field” after his 41-ball 72 guided his side to a four-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings and secured the second position in the IPL points table here on Wednesday.
Iyer struck his fourth fifty of the season, making 72 off 41 balls with five fours and four sixes as PBKS knocked CSK out of IPL play-offs race with the win.
“I love chasing on any field. I feel like I thrive whenever there is a big total on the board and you need to take the charge and momentum for the team for the rest of the batters to come and go full throttle,” said Iyer, who was adjudged the player-of-the-match.
Talking about his form in away games in this IPL, Iyer said, “I don’t want to curse it and just stay in the present and reacting to the ball. It doesn’t matter where I am playing. I just play with my approach. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t.”
Iyer said batting against fast bowlers with the new ball has given him a great amount of practice.
“Lately I have been batting a lot in the nets and facing the quick bowlers, especially with the new ball and that’s given me immense confidence. This is one part I have really worked on,” he said.
“The attitude is something that I keep high whenever I approach the field. So I think all these small boxes have been ticked and that’s there to see,” he added.
Meanwhile, Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell could probably out of the tournament after fracturing one of his fingers. He didn’t play against CSK on Wednesday.
“It’s very unfortunate that he’s got a fractured finger,” Iyer said at the toss.
CSK skipper MS Dhoni said his side did put up a significant total on the board as they made 190 in 19.2 overs but added it was not enough.
“I think the batting — yes, it was the first time we put enough runs on the board. But was it a par score? I feel slightly short. Yes, a bit demanding from the batters but I feel we could’ve got slightly more,” he said.
Dhoni said CSK is not playing well towards the end they lost five wickets for four runs as Yuzvendra Chahal claimed a hat-trick in the 19th over to finish with figures of 4/32.
“The partnership between Brevis and Sam was excellent. We didn’t play the last four deliveries, and the second last over four batters got out. In close games, those seven deliveries mean a lot,” he said.
Dhoni praised Sam Curran for his gritty 88 off 47 balls with nine fours and four sixes, which took CSK to an at-par total.
“Well he’s a fighter, that’s something we all know. Whenever he turns up, he wants to contribute. Unfortunately so far, whenever we tried to give him a chance, the wicket was on the slower side and he found it slightly difficult,” Dhoni said.
“But today’s wicket was one of the best we’ve got at home in this tournament. That’s the reason I felt we needed another 15 runs,” he added.
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