Bengaluru: The IPL is not only a theatre of serious, competitive T20 cricket, it also presents an array of emotions and moods.
What happened before Friday’s IPL 2024 clash between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here can only be described as hilarious.
KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss against Faf du Plessis and said his team would bowl first. After explaining the reason behind his decision, Iyer was asked by Ravi Shastri about KKR’s team composition.
“The bowling — Anukul Roy comes in,” he said before struggling to remember which player the left-arm spinner replaced.
“I am seriously confused. There are two teams given to me,” Iyer confessed.
The two teams that Iyer mentioned refers to the Impact Player rule introduced in the IPL last year. Apart from the first XI, every team can name three extra players from whom one can be brought in to replace a teammate.
Captains have been seen to be struggling to remember the changes in playing XI on a particular match day, but Iyer’s predicament was funny because KKR effected just one change in the starting XI from the team that beat Sunrisers Hyderabad in their opening game.
For the record, it was Nitish Rana who made way for Anukul.
