Venkatesh Iyer breaks KKR's 15-year century drought; first since McCullum's historic 158* in IPL 2008 opener

Venkatesh Iyer became the first Kolkata Knight Riders player since Brendon McCullum to score a century in the Indian Premier League. Interestingly, McCullum's only century for the Knight Riders came in the very first game in the history of IPL – all the way back in 2008 – when he smashed an incredible unbeaten 158 off just 73 deliveries.

Iyer reached the historic mark in 49 deliveries in a blistering innings against Mumbai Indians on Sunday afternoon.

The left-handed batter had a good start to the 2023 season, having scored 130 runs in four matches so far; he scored a quickfire 83 in just 40 deliveries during the side's game against defending champions Gujarat Titans last week. On Sunday, he took a giant leap as he joined McCullum as only the second KKR player to reach a three-figure mark.

Iyer had made a quickfire start to his innings against the Mumbai Indians, as he arrived early at the crease following the dismissal of Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the second over.

By the end of the powerplay, Iyer had raced away to 39 off 16 deliveries, and even as he faced a seeming injury to his leg that required urgent treatment from physios, the left-handed batter eventually returned to bat and reached his half-century in 23 deliveries.

The batter smashed the MI bowlers all around the park; his next fifty came off 26 deliveries as he hit six fours and nine sixes en route ot the three-figure mark. Iyer was eventually dismissed in the 18th over of the innings by Riley Meredith; going for a big hit, Iyer failed to time his reverse hit to perfection. Duan Jansen made no mistake at deep third man, eventually ending Iyer's innings.

This was Iyer's first century in the tournament as well; the batting all-rounder has represented only Kolkata Knight Riders in the league so far. McCullum – the only other player with a century for KKR – had reached the three-figure mark in 53 deliveries against the RCB.