KKR skipper Gambhir not getting carried away with table-toppers tag
As Kolkata Knight Riders climbed the leaderboard, skipper Gautam Gambhir said the team still has a long way to go in the tournament and they needed to play well to secure a berth in the play-offs. Knight Riders went on top of the table on Monday night with a convincing six-wicket win over Delhi Daredevils, thereby extending their winning streak to six games.
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Leading from the front: Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Gautam Gambhir raises his bat after completing fifty against Royal Challengers Bangalore in an IPL-V match atu00a0M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on April 10. Pic/AFP
“There’s still a long way to go, we have to play each game as it comes rather than being complacent. We’ve got great quality in the dressing room. Important thing is we keep playing well as a unit,” Gambhir said.
On his own performance, Gambhir said: “I have been fortunate, I have hit the ball well. Sometimes you need to be aggressive and pass that on to the others. We go out there to win and not just compete.”
Praise for McCullum
Gambhir praised Brendon McCullum, who scored 56 off 44 balls to take Kolkata to victory, and quashed claims of him being out of form. “For us, every game is tough and every game is important. McCullum has always been in form, he has been hitting the ball very well and that is very important to our team. Even in the last match he did really well and both of us had a great partnership,” he said.
Daredevils all-rounder Irfan Pathan lamented his side’s performance and blamed the early loss of wickets for the team’s downfall. “We didn’t have enough runs on the board, we lost two early wickets and that put us on the back foot. When Kevin (Pietersen) was there and he was performing very well, now some other batsman needs to put his hand up and perform at his best. We could have scored 160 plus but that wasn’t the case,” he said.
“There is no complacency or anything like that, we put ourselves under pressure every game to perform well and by doing that we maintain a high level of intensity. When you didn’t win people ask questions. We try to win every game possible.
Gambhir fined
Meanwhile, Gambhir has been fined after the team maintained a slow over rate against Delhi. At the end of the match, Knight Riders were assessed to be one over behind the required rate after allowances were taken into consideration. Gambhir was fined $20,000 for the offence.
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