Former Australia white-ball captain Aaron Finch minced no words as he shredded Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) approach against Gujarat Titans in an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 match at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday. The Ajinkya Rahane-led side fell 39 runs short against Shubman Gill and co as they failed to chase down the target of 199. After the end of ten overs, KKR were 68/2 with Rahane and Venkatesh Iyer at the crease.
Rahane eventually scored 50 runs off 36 balls, while Venkatesh Iyer failed to connect the bat with the ball and finally departed back to the hut after scoring 14 runs off 19 balls. Venkatesh Iyer failed to hit a single four or six in his innings.
In the end, the lower order comprising Andre Russell (21 off 15 balls), Rinku Singh (17 off 14 balls) and Ramandeep Singh (1 off 2 balls) failed to do the job. This defeat now leaves KKR's hopes of making it to the playoffs in dire straits, and the team needs to win at least five of the six remaining matches for qualification.
"You need to have an intent to take spin down. You can't hit a six or a boundary if you're not trying to, if your first instinct is to just knock it into the leg side and run one. Then you're on a hiding to nothing, and it was just mesmerising, the lack of intent. They had nine batters in their team. That automatically tells me they are going to be ultra-aggressive at the start, try to get up to or ahead of the [required] run rate, so that when the wicket deteriorates, there's room for error," Finch said on ESPNCricinfo 'Timeout'.
"For me, that was just a really poor calculation of how to go about a run chase of 200. There are nine batters, you don't need to rebuild anything. The game was over after ten [overs], wasn't it? They just let the required run rate get so far out of hand. It was so strange to watch them just trying to knock it around. Very, very strange innings. They went out with the attitude not to lose by 100 runs. It was almost like, 'You know what, let's get 160, and we'll walk off. We'll be okay with that.' That was a horrible batting display," he added.
'Venkatesh didn't play the role he should have'
{{/usCountry}}"For me, that was just a really poor calculation of how to go about a run chase of 200. There are nine batters, you don't need to rebuild anything. The game was over after ten [overs], wasn't it? They just let the required run rate get so far out of hand. It was so strange to watch them just trying to knock it around. Very, very strange innings. They went out with the attitude not to lose by 100 runs. It was almost like, 'You know what, let's get 160, and we'll walk off. We'll be okay with that.' That was a horrible batting display," he added.
'Venkatesh didn't play the role he should have'
{{/usCountry}}India Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara also agreed with Aaron Finch, saying Venkatesh Iyer did not do his job properly. However, he also blamed management for not providing proper messaging when KKR batted in the middle.
"There are times when, as a batter, you feel that the conditions are a little challenging. You just want to knock it around, but when you have a timeout, the coaches and the support staff come in, and you make another strategy, that 'this is something which is not working, we are leaving too many runs behind'," he said.
"I do agree that Venkatesh didn't play the role which he should have played. But at the same time, was he told that he just had to knock around when Rashid was bowling and he didn't have to take him on? I don't know what the message was," he added.
The former India No.3 batter questioned Ajinkya Rahane and Venkatesh Iyer's approach, saying the duo should have assessed the pitch better and tried to score at least 90 runs inside the first ten overs, as the pitch was always going to get tough later on.
"It wasn't a kind of pitch where you leave too many runs behind. It wasn't a flat pitch where in the last five overs you can get 60-70 runs. It looks like they didn't bowl well in the first innings because there was enough turn on it," said Pujara.
"They should have been chasing somewhere around 180. On that pitch, if you are leaving more than ten runs an over in the last ten, then you are always chasing the game. You at least have to be close to 90-odd runs in the first ten," he added.