Shreyas Iyer: ‘It was a nice toss to lose’

Shreyas Iyer had a highly satisfying first day in office as skipper of the Delhi Daredevils.

After the openers laid a good foundation, he clobbered the Kolkata Knight Riders attack with a 40-ball unbeaten 93 and took the total to past the 200-run mark. “There was no pressure of leading the side, to be honest. But leading Daredevils for the first time, that too, in the middle of the tournament, was really amazing,” said Shreyas after the team’s resounding 55-run victory .

On making a winning start as captain, Shreyas said, “Obviously, it is an amazing feeling winning my first game as a skipper. All of us contributed for this win. We wanted to bowl first. So, it was a nice toss to lose. It gave the batsman the freedom to express themselves.”

‘Strength is pace’

Unlike most teams that rely on spinners, Daredevils has been well served by the pacers so far. “We know that our strength is pace. The way they are bowling in the Power Play and outside it is really amazing.”

Knight Riders skipper Dinesh Karthik pointed to the factors that led to the lop-sided contest. “If you don’t get wickets in the Power Play, then they’re always going hard and you’re wishing for a wicket somewhere. It clearly didn’t happen. That helped them go at a similar momentum throughout the game. I think we really need to wake up in the fielding department. We need to improve our fielding standard and that should turn around the things for us.”