It is very tough to swallow the hard-fought loss against Sunrisers: Jacques Kallis

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) suffered a heartbreaking loss against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the second qualifier at the Eden Gardens, which also brought an end to their sensational campaign in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018. Not many believed in the KKR franchise and that they would come this far in the competition after they made some questionable decisions in the auction and with the appointment of a new skipper in Dinesh Karthik. KKR head coach Jacques Kallis said that it’s his team that lost the match, more than SRH beating them.

We lost a game to SRH that we should have won: Kallis

The former South African all-rounder noted that the outcome of the must-win game against the Kane Williamson-led team was surely disappointing. KKR got off to best of the starts while chasing 175 runs in Qualifier 2, however, they completely lost the plot in the middle overs which took the game away. Kallis reckoned that it was a closely-fought encounter and his team should have possibly ended up winning.

“A good night’s sleep can help with many ills and it can certainly ease the disappointment of a sporting defeat but it doesn’t change the fact that we lost a game we should have won. We lost it rather than Sunrisers won it,” wrote Kallis in his article for TOI.

He mentioned that his boys played dominant cricket in the match against SRH, and ending up on the losing side is a very difficult fact to digest. The former Proteas cricketer also noted that he was quite confident about his team ending up with a positive result in the crunch game.

“It is a hard pill to swallow and the guys will struggle with it for a few more days yet. We had some pretty comprehensive wins in this year’s tournament but I’m not sure we dominated any game as much as we did this one – and we lost. From a coaching perspective I sat in the dugout feeling confident and in control for 90 percent of the game – that’s how much I felt we dominated. So when you don’t win a game with that much possession then you probably have nobody to blame but yourselves,” the former South African cricketer further mentioned.

It was a pretty successful campaign for KKR

Kallis showered some praise on the whole team and the management who have played an important part in making the IPL 2018 campaign a successful one. He revealed that there is an abundance of young and talented cricketers in the team.

“But it was still a successful campaign and tournament for the Knight Riders team and franchise and one that everyone can be very pleased about. There is an abundance of young talent which makes the future of the team look very bright indeed. We will be back stronger and wiser next year and ready to compete for another title – with smiles on our faces and supported by the best fans in the country, if not the world,” noted Kallis in his piece.

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