IMAGE: Venkatesh Iyer celebrates his century in opposition to the Mumbai Indians on Sunday, April 16, 2023. {Photograph}: BCCI
Venkatesh Iyer overcame a painful blow on the knee to smash his maiden IPL century, but it surely went in useless because the Kolkata Knight Riders went right down to the Mumbai Indians by 5 wickets within the IPL 2023 match on Sunday.
Iyer, who harm his knee after lacking a scoop shot off MI pacer Cameron Inexperienced, hobbled between the wickets after the blow, however confirmed nice resolve to battle it out regardless of the ache to blast an entertaining 104 from 51 balls, hitting 9 sixes and 6 fours on the Wankhede stadium.
It’s turning out to be a season of redemption for the tall left-hander. His very good exhibiting in IPL 2021 with 370 runs at a mean of 41 paved the best way to his choice within the Indian white ball groups.
Iyer didn’t repeat the magic final season, managing simply 182 runs in 12 matches at a strike fee of 107, whereas he additionally misplaced his place within the Indian workforce.
Issues obtained worse in October when he broke his ankle after he slipped off a staircase, which dominated him out of motion for almost six months.
IMAGE: Venkatesh Iyer winces in ache after getting struck on the appropriate knee. {Photograph}: BCCI
The Ranji Trophy semi-final for Madhya Pradesh in opposition to Bengal in February was his solely piece of motion within the final six months as he underwent surgical procedure adopted by lengthy restoration and rehabilitation on the Nationwide Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.
This yr Iyer seems tremendous eager to make up for misplaced time. He has smashed his strategy to the highest of the IPL 2023 run scoring charts with 234 runs from 5 video games, at a strike fee of 170, together with a fifty and a century.
The 28 yr previous was instrumental in reviving KKR after a troublesome begin on the Wankhede. He obtained going with a 4 and a six off debutant Arjun Tendulkar within the third over earlier than he repeated the dose on Inexperienced within the subsequent over, throughout which he suffered the damage to the knee.
He seemed in loads of ache however determined to proceed after…
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