There wasn't much for the spinners: Shakib Al Hasan

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) had been beaten in front of their home crowd at the Eden Gardens by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Monday. Kolkata played well to set a target of 184 against a heavy batting lineup of Royal Challengers, with half-centuries from the skipper Gautam Gambhir and Manish Pandey and a quickfire at the end by Andre Russell who scored a 19-ball 39 and Shakib al Hasan with a 11-ball 18.

In reply, the RCB opener Chris Gayle who hasn’t scored a 2-digit score in his last 8 appearances find himself back with his big hitting. Gayle scored 49 runs off 31 balls and laid the foundation for the chase. And then, Virat Kohli with his 51-ball 75 and AB de Villiers with his 31-ball 59 had taken them over the line with a 9-wicket win.

The track that was used in this game was the same one that offered plenty of assistance to the spinners in their match against Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS), but Shakib wasn’t happy with the pitch and said that the track hasn’t offered much spin as expected and was disappointed for not getting ‘home advantage’ this season.

“We are a spin-dependent team. We always expect the track to spin but that hasn’t happened yet so far. It’s disappointing but there’s no point blaming the pitch,” he said. “We haven’t done well at home this time. It was a very good wicket to bat on. There was a bit of turn but only when you bowled slow. There wasn’t much for the spinners,” said the Bangladeshi all-rounder.

Shakib al Hasan also said that they tried their best to get through Virat and de Villiers but with the quality and the kind of form they are in there’s not much they could do. “The quality they have, I don’t think we could have done much. We tried everything but they played better cricket,” was Shakib al Hasan’s response when asked about the RCBs chase.

“We had plans for every single batsman but if plans worked always, no batsman will score runs. Bowlers try to execute, the fielders try to back them but the batsmen find a way. They batted really well.”

Kolkata had two matches left to play and they need to win both of them to finish in the top 2. “We all know that finishing in the top 2 helps a lot,” the all-rounder said. “If you finish third or fourth, it’s a little difficult. Every match is important. Today’s loss is, of course, a setback but we have enough quality to come back.”

Kolkata will play their next two matches against Gujarat Lions and Sunrisers Hyderabad, and they would need to win both of them to have themselves two chances for making it to the finals.

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