In the 22nd match of IPL 2023, Mumbai Indians had a defeat in the hands of Mumbai Indians by five wickets. However, despite the loss, Venkatesh Iyer emerged as the hero for the KKR and he scored a century when all the other batters were struggling on this pitch. After his century, Iyer got a huge appreciation from all the cricket fraternity and England’s former star batter Kevin Pietersen is one of them.
KKR posted a competitive total on the scoreboard, thanks to Venkatesh Iyer’s explosive century. Right from the start, Iyer showed his aggressive approach and didn’t let any Mumbai Indians’ bowler trouble him. Kevin Pietersen praised Iyer’s abilities to hit the ball in all directions of the ground and labelled him as a 360-degree player.
While talking on Star Sports, Pietersen said,”He is a tall guy; he stands on top of the bounce because of his height. I’m very impressed with the way he played off the back foot too, and he also doesn’t get bogged down by the spinners. He is a 360 kind of player.”
Recalling one of Iyer’s previous innings during the pandemic, Pietersen highlighted the stunning shots played by Iyer. The century by Iyer against Mumbai Indians in the recent match was only the second century ever scored by a KKR player in the history of the IPL tournament. The first century was scored by Brendon McCullum in the first-ever IPL match in 2008 where he smashed an unbeaten 158 runs.
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“He is not afraid to play all around the ground. It was in Dubai that we first saw him in the IPL where he lit the stage up when he played a couple of pull shots and a couple of drives. I looked at him and thought ‘Okay, this guy has some star quality’ and today, we have seen it”, the former RCB star added.
