Follow Us‘All or nothing’ has been the theme of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s batting since the start of IPL 2024, and each of the side’s last three encounters against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have been ‘nothing’, with the team’s ultra-aggressive approach backfiring.
159 all-out in Qualifier 1 became 113 all-out in the IPL 2024 final, and the trend continued yesterday at the Eden Gardens as SRH got rolled over for 120, chasing 201. The game once again showed that they’re a side who are either hundred or zero.
On the back of the same, KKR’s Venkatesh Iyer took a subtle but clear dig at the Sunrisers in the press conference after the game.
“The meaning of aggression is showing a positive intent. And we play cricket, so it's very important for us to show positive but correct intent. But you know, if we are 50 for 6 and I still go and tonk everything, that's positive, but that's not correct intent,” Iyer said after the SRH game.
“If we are to call ourselves champions, if we are to call ourselves smart cricketers, it's very important for us to read any situation and then react aggressively. See, aggression does not mean tonking every ball for sixes. It's about how you understand the conditions, how you are able to maximize the conditions in your favor. And that is what aggression actually is. And that is what we as a team want to play.”
Iyer further made it obvious that KKR do not want to turn into an ‘all or nothing’ side like SRH, who have so far posted both the highest and lowest team totals of IPL 2025.
“We don't want to be the team that, you know, when we hit it, we score 250 and when we don't, we get out for 70. We don't want to be that team,” Iyer said.
“We want to be a team who understands the pitch and the conditions quickly and assess what’s the par score on that pitch, and always try to make 20 runs above par. That is what aggression for KKR means.”
Interestingly, it was only a game ago that KKR got rolled over for 116 batting first, trying to go all guns blazing against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede despite the side losing four wickets in the powerplay.