IPL 2023: Kolkata did a lot of good things, but Chennai outplayed us in all departments, says David Wiese

Kolkata:  Kolkata Knight Riders’ fast-bowling all-rounder David Wiese stated that although his team did some good things in their clash against Chennai Super Kings at Eden Gardens, the four-time champions were too good to outplay them in all departments of the game.

For Chennai, Devon Conway smashed his fourth consecutive fifty of IPL 2023 while Ajinkya Rahane dazzled with an unbeaten 29-ball 71 and Shivam Dube slammed a quick 21-ball fifty to post 235/4, the highest IPL score at the venue, before restricting Kolkata to 186/8 to win by 49 runs and go on top of the points table.

“Things didn’t go to plan in the match. It was a bit of a tough day out there. Coming over here, we knew conditions and pitch favouring the batting side. We couldn’t execute our skills as well as we had thought. We did a lot of good things in the game, but in the end, they outplayed us in all the departments,” said Wiese in the post-match press conference.

On a good batting pitch, Chennai’s batters took Kolkata’s bowlers to cleaners by hitting 18 sixes and 14 fours. For Kolkata, though Jason Roy and Rinku Singh struck valiant half-centuries, they were not enough for the two-time winners to avoid crashing to their fourth straight defeat.

“We didn’t feel like we bowled too badly. We stuck to our lengths, we stuck to our plans. But they ended up playing some good shots. Halfway through, they were 110 off 12 overs, we contained them quite nicely. But Ajinkya Rahane came in and played a fantastic innings. He was just complemented by everybody else who came in and played cameos,” added Wiese.

In front of a crowd which was a sea of yellow, Chennai delivered a victory and Wiese, becoming the first player from Namibia to feature in the IPL, conceded that things did get tough when their actual home ground was in support of MS Dhoni & Co.

“It’s tough when you come into a home game and you have got more opposition support than home support. But then, I suppose that’s the Dhoni effect on Indian supporters. It is tough when you are out there and the momentum switches and the crowd is behind the opposition team and it gets louder and louder.”

“Things just tend to not go your way and it is easy to get carried away with everything. But that’s the nature of the game. It is always a pleasure and privilege to play in front of so many fans in professional sports.”

Kolkata’s next game in IPL 2023 will be against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday evening.

–IANS