Venkatesh Iyer's knock signals the brand of cricket KKR want to play: Eoin Morgan

Following a comprehensive win over Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Eoin Morgan praised debutant Venkatesh Iyer, saying that his knock signifies the brand of cricket his team wants to play. Making his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut the southpaw from Madhya Pradesh scored an unbeaten 27-ball 41 to take his side home. 

"Venkatesh Iyer, the way he came in and played was outstanding. Certainly, the brand of cricket we want to play. Playing under head coach Brendon McCullum, this is the aggressive nature of cricket we want to play," Morgan said during a virtual post-match press conference.

"Although he was aggressive, he managed to control his innings. His opening partnership with Shubman Gill was beautiful to watch," he added.

Varun Chakravarthy and Andre Russell picked up three wickets apiece to help KKR bowl RCB out for a paltry 92. Even though the pitch was pacer friendly, Morgan praised the way Chakravarthy bowled. 

"Yeah, I think the match-ups with Andre Russell really worked. The pitch the way it played throughout the whole innings was more seamer-friendly even though Varun had an unbelievable day. I thought the pitch assisted the seamers with big size boundaries," Morgan said.

The England white-ball captain is confident that if KKR play the way they did against RCB they will progress to the playoffs. "Yeah, there is no doubt that it will be a challenge from here onwards, but our main aim is to turn up and play cricket as we did with RCB. If we do that, then we give ourselves the best chance of progressing to the playoffs," he added.

KKR move up to fifth place with this win and will play Mumbai Indians (MI) next on Thursday (September 23).