Nitish, Rinku exploits will give Shreyas confidence to bat freely: Gavaskar

Mumbai: Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar reckons Kolkata Knight Riders' skipper Shreyas Iyer can now get the confidence to bat freely as middle-order batters Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh have started making contributions in IPL 2022.

Ahead of Kolkata's match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the MCA Stadium in Pune on Saturday, the two-time champions have seen Nitish, Rinku and Venkatesh Iyer get crucial runs in last few matches, which Gavaskar thinks can get Shreyas to get back to his free-flowing batting style.

"Shreyas Iyer is a premier player for KKR, he's been a premier player for whichever franchise he's played for. It's good to see that Shreyas doesn't have to share all the burden in the batting department. The recent exploits of Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh will give him the confidence to bat freely and play those big shots early in the innings," said Gavaskar on Cricket Live show on Star Sports.

Agreeing with Gavaskar, former India cricketer Mohammed Kaif pointed out that Shreyas knows how to deal with the pressure and has the ability to take Kolkata on the right path for reaching the playoffs with his batting. "Shreyas Iyer is a class batsman. He loves to play under pressure and knows how to score runs consistently. He likes playing long and impactful innings. He is a brilliant captain and can put KKR in the right direction with his batting."

At the same time, Kaif expressed concern over Shreyas' struggle against leg-spinners and sees it as an area where the right-handed batter, considered as a good player of spin bowling, needs to work hard at.

Also read: Adaptability has been the key ingredient of PBKS' campaign in IPL: Agarwal

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