KKR captain insists team’s focus on winning remaining games
The Kolkata Knight Riders are all smiles after Kings XI Punjab registered a seven-wicket win against the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Tuesday. It has all come down to permutations and combinations in this edition of the IPL and if everything works as per plans of the Knight Riders, they could well get a sniff into that Playoffs spot.
KKR captain, Gautam Gambhir who addressed the media here in Ranchi, when the contest between RCB and KXIP was still underway said, his team would go and look to play professional cricket irrespective of the results of the other matches.
“Being a professional cricketer, whenever you walk out on the field you go with a mindset to win,” Gambhir said.
“Irrespective of where we stand on the points table, at the end of the day you want to win a game of cricket. I do not know at what position we will end up at the end of these sixteen games. What is in our hands is to go out there, play professionally and win a game of cricket and we would look to do exactly that against Pune Warriors on Wednesday.”
It has been a dodgy tournament for KKR this season. There have been close finishes, wherein the results have not gone their way and at times the team has failed to click as a unit. Being defending champions there would have been a lot of expectations for them to recreate the same kind of performances like last year, but that has not quite happened for them.
Asked to pinpoint the reasons for KKR’s patchy performance this year, Gambhir said, “It is no guarantee that we will be champions this year because we were champions last year. The important thing is if you do not play consistent cricket, then you will be in the position we are at the moment. If all three departments of the game do not click together, you will not win matches. It is important to complement each other in all departments of the game. If you play inconsistent cricket, the results will not go in your favour.”
KKR will be playing their second game at Ranchi on Wednesday and will look to get a crucial win under their belt. A lot had been spoken about the nature of the wicket and it being low scoring strip.
Gambhir however thought otherwise. “In the last game, RCB scored 115 and the way they played on this wicket, we need to find out what mistakes they made. I do not think it was that bad a wicket that a team can score only 115. I feel it was a wicket where one could score 150. If you do not play good cricket, how can you blame the wicket. It was a normal wicket,” he said.
KKR however trudged their way to their target against RCB, and holding fort was Jacques Kallis who played the perfect anchor in the run chase scoring a patient 41. With an average of just 22 in fourteen innings in the tournament, Kallis has not been at his best.
For Gambhir though, Kallis was never a player out of form. “We never thought Jacques Kallis was ever out of form. For us he is a quality cricketer and if he does not do well with the bat, he backs it up with the ball and vice-versa. He gives us two things straightway and that is what helps as a captain to pick the right combination for the side and the luxury to pick your side. He is a great cricketer and it will never happen that he is out of form with the bat for long,” concluded Gambhir.
