Gambhir takes defeat to Kochi as an eye-opener for batsmen

Kolkata Knight Riders’ captain Gautam Gambhir has said that the KKR’s narrow six-run defeat to Kochi Tuskers Kerala will prove to be an eye-opener for the middle-order batsmen, who are yet to show their magic in the Indian Premier League.

Kochi Tuskers thrashed the leading season IV side, Kolkata Knight Riders, on Wednesday. Chasing Kerala’s modest total of 132 runs, Gambhir and company could only manage to reach 126 for nine in 20 overs.

Manoj Tiwary, with his 46 runs, was the only batsman who showed some resistance against the Kochi bowlers. However, he could not take the side home single-handedly. All top Kolkata batsmen including Gambhir, Jacques Kallis, Shakib Al Hasan and Yusuf Pathan were not able to reach even in the double figures.

Describing the poor middle-order batting as the biggest cause of team's humiliating defeat at the hands of Mahela Jayawardene-led Kochi outfit, Gambhir said, "It was a complete batting failure. The wicket was much better and we could have chased easily.”

Gambhir expressed that the team got a lot of depth in its batting order. The captain explained that with hard-hitters like Yusuf and Eoin Morgan in the lower order, Kolkata outfit has loads of talent in its line-up. However, the batsmen just need to realize their responsibility.

"Our middle order is not tested yet and I am sure this will serve a good wake up call for them. It`s not going to be one person`s day every day. Someone needs to put his hands up say it`s my day and take the team forward,” the skipper added.

Deploring on his batsmen’s not-so-impressive performance, the captain, however, admired the bowlers for restricting Kochi XI on a small total, especially after their flying start.

The Knight Riders are leading the IPL standings with their three wins out of five games. Considering the defeat as unfortunate, the skipper stated that the team can take a lot of positives out from this loss.

Gambhir made it clear that the side has done extremely well so far in the tournament. The classy left-hand batsman further hoped that the players would take the defeat just as a bad day, and show up with an improved performance in the upcoming games.