Kolkata Knight Riders’ captain, Gautam Gambhir, has said that Mumbai Indians are not unbeatable and predicts a close encounter on when his men take on Mumbai in an eliminator match of the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League in Mumbai.
Mumbai and Kolkata finished at number three and four respectively in the points table of the current edition of IPL and hence qualified for the play-off stage along with the top two teams, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings.
The two teams were up against each other in their last league match at Kolkata and it turned out to be the match of the season as Ambati Rayudu struck a last ball six of the bowling of Lakshmipathy Balaji to snatch victory from Kolkata’s jaws.
Gambhir defended his fast bowler and said that it’s a part of the game but that does not mean that Balaji is not a good bowler. Kolkata’s captain still has faith in his fast bowler and expects him to perform better in the knockout match.
He said, “Nothing has happened for which we have to keep our heads down. Who would you have given the ball to? I have a lot of faith in Bala, that's why I gave him the final over. Nine times out of 10, in such a situation when 21 are needed in the last over, he would do the job for us. It was one of those days".
The left hander said that his team had the upper hand in the match for the most part of it but the last over turned out to be the difference. Kolkata’s captain is being very optimistic and wants his team to learn from their mistakes from the previous match.
Gambhir is very positive about his team’s chances and feels that both the teams will be under pressure as all their hard work is at stake.
"Everything we take are positives, except the last over. When you are among the four top teams among team, there must be more positives than negatives. The playoffs will be a different ball-game, there will be pressure on both sides as defeat will send them out”, said Gambhir.
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