Chennai, India

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Shreyas Iyer acknowledged a misjudgment in reading the pitch after their first loss of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season. KKR were comprehensively beaten by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on April 8 at Chepauk and Iyer conceded a mistake on their side.

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"I personally feel we fell short in terms of assessing the wicket," Iyer said after the loss. 

KKR, however, had a decent powerplay despite losing Phil Salt on the first ball of the match. Kolkata went on to score 56 runs in the first six overs with Sunil Narine and Angkrish Raghuvanshi taking charge. CSK's Ravindra Jadeja then changed the complexion of the game with a double-wicket over, dismissing both the set batters.

Also Read: CSK's Ravindra Jadeja now fifth to take 100 or more catches in league. Check full list inside

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"We were phenomenal in the powerplay but after that, we couldn't capitalise, we lost consecutive wickets. We weren't able to assess the conditions as quickly as possible. It completely changed after the powerplay and scoring runs off this wicket wasn't easy," Iyer said.

The KKR skipper also said that CSK knew the conditions of their home ground well and they bowled exactly according to the plan.

"Obviously, they know conditions pretty well and they bowled according to their plan. It was a bit tacky, especially even when the hard hitters came in, it wasn't easy for them to go [big] right from the first ball. It changed tremendously after the powerplay. We were trying to construct our innings, didn't go to plan. We take those learnings and move forward," Iyer noted.

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Thanks to Jadeja's 3/18 in four overs, KKR could score just 137/9 in 20 overs despite having an above-par powerplay. Chasing the total, CSK were never in trouble as they reached the target in 17.4 overs with seven wickets in hand. For Chennai, skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad eventually hit form and top-scored with an unbeaten 67 off 58 balls.