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Former West Indies pacer Ian Bishop hailed Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Shreyas Iyer as Kolkata were about to be crowned as the IPL 2024 champions on Sunday, May 26. Bishop is a well-known commentator known to not mince his words and he did the same while being on air during the IPL 2024 final.
While Bishop understands the impact that KKR mentor Gautam Gambhir has had on the team, he feels Shreyas also deserves acknowledgment for the way he had marshaled his troops throughout the season.
Bishop said on air during the Kolkata Knight Riders vs SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) final:
"I am hearing a lot about Gautam Gambhir, who has created a magnificent culture with the team. But this guy (Shreyas), I don't think he gets near as much credit. I said it all season and they came after me on social media. I think these two (Gambhir and coach Chandrakant Pandit) and Shreyas Iyer deserve some credit."
Shreyas Iyer had an impactful IPL season as a batter too, scoring 351 runs in 14 games at a strike rate of 146.86, with two half-centuries to his name.
Ian Bishop on KKR's batting
Despite being known for their explosive batting, SRH could only muster 113 in the final, thanks to a stellar all-round bowling performance from KKR. While SunRisers hold the record for the highest IPL total (287/3 this season), Bishop reckons the Knight Riders' batting fired more consistently.
"SunRisers have been the most spectacular (batting team), but the most consistent batting team have been KKR. Not to mention their bowling. I think that is understated," he explained.
Mitchell Starc provided the fiery opening spell, conceding just 14 runs in his three overs while taking a couple of wickets. Vaibhav Arora got the big fish Travis Head for a golden duck. Harshit Rana was brilliant with his change-ups in the middle overs and contributed with a couple of wickets.
Andre Russell was the pick of the KKR bowlers with figures of 3/19 and the two spinners - Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy - conceded a combined 25 runs in their six overs picking up a couple of wickets.
