Kolkata knight riders were given a mammoth of the total by CSK. While chasing 221, KKR stuttered to 31/5 inside the powerplay as Deepak Chahar took his second 4-for of the season. Former India opener, Gautam Gambhir slammed the Kolkata Knight Riders top order for capitulating to the bowlers on Wednesday at the Wankhede Stadium.
Referring to KKR’s only option of counter-attacking, the lower-order batters Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik, and Pat Cummins kept the run-chase alive with everything they had under their belts. Cummins stretched the game till the last over but ran out of support from the other end and CSK won the match by 18 runs.
Gautam Gambhir Slams Front Order Of KKR For Not Applying Themselves Properly On A Batting-Friendly Surface
Front three of KKR had an on and off with the bat with their main batter Shubman Gill looks out of form. Gautam Gambhir blasts the top order batters for not applying themselves properly on a batting-friendly surface at the Wankhede where Russell, Karthik, and Cummins combined to score 160 runs of the total 202 KKR managed to put on the board. Comprising of Nitish Rana (9), Shubman Gill (0), Rahul Tripathi (8) and Eoin Morgan (7) ‘panicked’ in the powerplay overs and lost their wickets.
“The top order [needs to be blamed]. Eventually, they [the lower order] ran out of partners. It’s not that they couldn’t have chased this total but they just ran out of partners. If No. 6, 7 and 8 can take you this close then it really shows that there was no application. Chasing 220, there are certain venues like Wankhade or Chinnaswamy where you don’t need to panic,” Gautam Gambhir told ESPNcricinfo.
Gambhir later gave an example of the 2014 IPL final in Bengaluru, where KKR chased 200 to win the title. He recalled his dressing room pep talk, which helped the KKR batsmen perform under pressure.
“I remember in 2014 IPL final we were actually chasing 200. And I got into the dressing room during the innings break and I said only one thing: ‘We will never be able to win the game in the first five overs but we can easily lose it in the first 5-6 overs. Even if we need 50 or 60 in the last five overs, even 80, we are still in the game. But don’t go bang-bang thinking we have to chase this in the first 6 overs and end up losing 5-6 wickets’. That is exactly what KKR did today,” added Gautam Gambhir.
KKR can take this loss on a positive note that if the front three applies themselves well, finishers can have an easy approach in the end to win the match. KKR faces Rajasthan Royals next tomorrow at Wankhede Stadium.
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