IPL 10: Gautam Gambhir rues poor batting for defeat against MI

The Kolkata Knight Riders have managed to become the third side to qualify for the playoffs. However, they would certainly not be very pleased with the way things have gone for them in the last league game. Skipper Gautam Gambhir definitely did not look very pleased after having seen the team perform so meekly against the Mumbai Indians at Kolkata in the final league game.

A win for the Knight Riders against the table toppers Mumbai Indians would have seen them finish in the top two slots in the points table. What this would have essentially meant was that the team could have got two shots at the finals of the IPL 10. Speaking about the match after the game, Gautam Gambhir blamed the batsmen for not taking up the responsibility.

“With the kind of wicket this was, this was chasable. Had one of the batsmen batted till the end, we would’ve got there. Just irresponsible shots, batsmen were trying to throw their bats at everything,” quoted Gautam Gambhir.

Hailing the bowling effort

He further noted that the efforts of the bowlers were very good. They had managed to restrict Mumbai Indians to a score of 174 in the first innings. This score, according to Gambhir, was chasable. However, the intent that the batsmen showed was disappointing. They ended up throwing their wickets away in a bid to accelerate the run flow. Some steady application at the middle could have easily sealed the day for the Kolkata Knight Riders.

“I thought to restrict them to 174 was an unbelievable effort. I thought we were trying to chase this down in 10-12 overs. We were a batsman short. We need to pull up our socks. If we bat like this it doesn’t matter if we’re in the Playoffs or not. Got to bat better,” remarked Gambhir as per the quotes in FirstPost.