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I had to finish off the match: Gambhir
Gautam Gambhir said he had to curb his aggression against KKR as he did not want to repeat his side's failure to finish off in their last IPL game.
- Press Trust of India
- Updated: May 06, 2009 06:44 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
Durban:
Delhi were well on course for a win against Chennai Super Kings but two set batsmen failed in the last five overs to lose their last game and Gambhir said he had to take the responsibility on Tuesday as captain.
"Last time two set batsmen failed to finish off against Chennai. We had a lot of talk in the team not a repeat that situation. I had to take responsibility and finish the match," Gambhir said after his side's 9-wicket victory over Kolkata.
Asked about any gameplan, Gambhir, man-of-the-match for his unbeaten 71, said, "Kolkata were at the bottom and we thought we had a chance to beat them and top the table which would give us better chance to make it to semifinals."
"I think Kolkata were short by 20 runs in their innings. Initially we thought we would have to chase 180. But Amit Mishra and Ashish Nehra bowled beautifully to restrict them. On this wicket, 150 plus is chaseable," he added.
Gambhir also heaped praise on Tillakaratne Dilshan, who contributed an unbeaten 42.
"Dilshan played like a thorough professional. I hope he continues to play like this. We have seven more matches and we want to reach the semifinals," he said.
Kolkata captain Brendon McCullum was disappointed that his side lost yet again and agreed that fielding let the team down.
"Probably we were 20 runs short in our innings. We needed to win each and every game but it seems it is getting more an more difficult," he said.
"For most part of match our fielding was not good. We can't win matches if we dropped catches like that," McCullum, who himself dropped man-of-the-match Gautam Gambhir of Delhi, said.
McCullum, however, did not want to take away credit from the Delhi batsmen and said, "All three of them batted beautifully. They batted professionally."
Stand-in Delhi Daredevils captain Gautam Gambhir said he had to curb his usual aggressiveness and drop anchor against Kolkata Knight Riders on Tuesday as he did not want to repeat his side's failure to finish off in their last Indian Premier League game.Delhi were well on course for a win against Chennai Super Kings but two set batsmen failed in the last five overs to lose their last game and Gambhir said he had to take the responsibility on Tuesday as captain.
"Last time two set batsmen failed to finish off against Chennai. We had a lot of talk in the team not a repeat that situation. I had to take responsibility and finish the match," Gambhir said after his side's 9-wicket victory over Kolkata.
Asked about any gameplan, Gambhir, man-of-the-match for his unbeaten 71, said, "Kolkata were at the bottom and we thought we had a chance to beat them and top the table which would give us better chance to make it to semifinals."
"I think Kolkata were short by 20 runs in their innings. Initially we thought we would have to chase 180. But Amit Mishra and Ashish Nehra bowled beautifully to restrict them. On this wicket, 150 plus is chaseable," he added.
Gambhir also heaped praise on Tillakaratne Dilshan, who contributed an unbeaten 42.
"Dilshan played like a thorough professional. I hope he continues to play like this. We have seven more matches and we want to reach the semifinals," he said.
Kolkata captain Brendon McCullum was disappointed that his side lost yet again and agreed that fielding let the team down.
"Probably we were 20 runs short in our innings. We needed to win each and every game but it seems it is getting more an more difficult," he said.
"For most part of match our fielding was not good. We can't win matches if we dropped catches like that," McCullum, who himself dropped man-of-the-match Gautam Gambhir of Delhi, said.
McCullum, however, did not want to take away credit from the Delhi batsmen and said, "All three of them batted beautifully. They batted professionally."
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