‘Bhai yeh bhi ODI WC mai jagah na bana le’- Fans thrilled as Venkatesh Iyer becomes KKR’s first centurion after Brendon McCullum in IPL 2008

Mumbai Indians are hosting Kolkata KnightRiders for the 22nd match of the Indian Premier League 2023 at the Wankhede Stadium. The two teams have a long history in the tournament, with MI having a better record against KKR.

Surprisingly Suryakumar Yadav took the field for the toss ahead of the match instead of Rohit Sharma as he had a stomach bug. The five-time champions decided to bowl first in their first afternoon game of the season.

The Kolkata-based team did not have the best start with the bat as they lost their first wicket in the second over of the game. However, after that, Venkatesh Iyer came to Kolkata’s rescue as he held on to one end for the visitors.

This season, he has appeared in good form and maintained his heroics against Mumbai. The MP-born batsman did not receive adequate support from batters at the other end, but that did not bother him as he scored the second century of the season.

For the longest period, he was the only KKR batter to score a boundary in the match. Iyer controlled the game, scoring his first IPL century in just 49 balls. Interestingly, this is only KKR’s second century in the IPL. The first came from the bat of Brendon McCullum in the first-ever match of the IPL back in 2008.

Iyer was finally dismissed by Riley Meredith in the 18th over of the game. He scored 104 runs in 51 balls, which included six boundaries and as many as nine sixes. Meredith delivered a low full-toss outside off stump to Iyer, who attempted to reverse hit it over short third man but failed to get elevation. Jansen safely caught the ball to dismiss the centurion.

The Men in Purple and Gold eventually scored 185/6 in their allocated 20 overs. Following a strong batting performance, they will now try to take early wickets in order to take the two points in this critical match.

Here is how Twitter reacted to Venkatesh Iyer’s century