Kolkata : Following his side's four run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Shreyas Iyer said that he backed pacer Harshit Rana to defend the 13 runs in the final over even though the bowler was nervous and it was "butterflies in the stomach" for him right from the 17th over.
Despite an all-round show from Andre Russell, KKR was almost crushed by a one-man-show by Heinrich Klaasen, before Harshit defended 13 runs in the final over to help the hosts secure a win at Eden Gardens on Saturday.
Following the match, Iyer said in the post match presentation, "Right from the 17th over, had butterflies in my stomach. Felt anything could happen in the last over. They needed 13 runs and we didn't have the most experienced bowler. But I had the belief in him (Harshit), and I told him to back himself and it doesn't matter what happens. He was a bit nervous coming in, and I just looked him in the eye and told him 'this is your moment, buddy.' Told him to back himself and doesn't matter what happens in the game.
Later, talking about performances of Russell and Sunil Narine, with the latter not giving a boundary in his spell, Narine said "They have such experience. Great to see Andre perform with bat and ball, and even Sunny (Narine) was splendid with the ball. Fantastic to have them around."
"Always gives you motivation when you start with a win. This game also gives us a lot of learnings, there is a lot we will take from this ground. I think fielding is an area we need to improve on," concluded Iyer.
Put to bat first by SRH, KKR was reduced to 51/4 in 7.3 overs. However, a half-century by Phil Salt (54 in 40 balls, with three fours and three sixes) and an explosive knock by Ramandeep Singh (35 in 17 balls, with a four and four sixes) kept team's run rate just fine, but still they were struggling at 119/6 in 13.5 overs.
An explosive 67-run partnership followed between Andre Rusell (64* in 25 balls, with three fours and seven sixes) and Rinku Singh (23 in 15 balls, with three fours), powering KKR to 208/7 in 20 overs.
T Natrajan (3/32) and Mayank Markande (2/32) were the top bowlers for SRH. In the chase of 209 runs, SRH started off well with a 60-run opening stand between Mayank Agarwal (32 in 21 balls with four boundaries and a six) and Abhishek Sharma (32 in 19 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes). The team lost their way and was soon 145/5 in 16.5 overs.
However, Heinrich Klaasen (63 in 29 balls with eight sixes) and Shahbaz Ahmed (16 in five balls, with a four and two sixes) unreleased a barrage of sixes towards the end, torching pacer Mitchell Starc with a prize tag of over Rs 24 crore for 26 runs in his over, ending his first figures for KKR at 0/53 in four overs. 13 runs were needed in final over, but Harshit Rana (3/33) held his nerves, taking two wickets and defending the remaining runs. Andre Russell secured the 'Player of the Match' for his half-century and figures of 2/25.