Gautam Gambhir, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper, has confirmed that an injury picked up by Yusuf Pathan in an Indian Premier League (IPL) fixture is not serious and the off-spinner will feature in upcoming matches for KKR.
Gambhir was speaking to media after their match against the Kochi Kerala Tuskers (KKT). The left-handed batsman said, “Nothing serious with Yusuf's injury, he should be OK for the next game.”
Yusuf was injured while fielding in the Twenty20 match. He looked like he was in pain soon after taking Ravindra Jadeja’s catch at the long-on boundary. The attacking middle order batsman seemed to settle nicely under the ball as he took the catch.
The all-rounder did not stay and was substituted soon after. Later, during KKR’s innings when he came out to bat, he had a runner with him and had a short stint with the bat and failed to guide his team to victory.
Requiring a total of 132, KKR could only manage 126 and lost the match by six runs. Gautham was infuriated with his team’s performance. The left-hander believes his side should have won the match with little effort.
In post match interview he said, “We should have chased that target easily. The wicket was playing better than it did in the last game. Credit to Kochi. The way their bowlers bowled. We were disappointing, not up to the mark.”
Earlier in the match, KKR won the toss and choose to field. The Kochi Kerala Tuskers openers went berserk in the powerplay and made full use of fielding restrictions as they scored 45 runs without the loss of any wicket.
Things changed once spin was introduced and Shakib Al Hasan
was able to break the partnership as he dislodged Brendon McCullum.
Pathan showed Mahela Jayawardene his way back to pavilion and he picked
up two more wickets from his next
couple of overs.
The all-rounder finished his spell with three wickets and conceded 20 runs in the process. Apart from Jayawardene, Parthiv Patel and Brad Hodge were two more scalps to his name.
KKR lost reliable batsmen, Jacques Kallis and
Gambhir, early on in their innings. This caused some panic in the
line-up but some stability was brought by the fourth wicket stand
between Eoin Morgan and Manoj Tiwary. Once their partnership
was broken, thanks to some excellent fielding by Jayawardene, no one else put up a fight.
Kochi Kerala skipper, Jayawardene,
acknowledged his bowlers efforts and said he always had belief in his
bowler’s ability to bowl in the death overs. He concludes that taking
early wickets was the key to their success and this made
a modest total look impossible to achieve.
Jayawardene advised his batsmen to improve in
upcoming matches as he thinks that they were about 15 runs short of what
they should have scored.
The Kerala Tuskers are new to the Indian
Premier League and have already started to give the big guns a run for
their money. Apart from defeating KKR, they have also emerged victorious
against the Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings.
Despite the loss, KKR are still toping the group with six points and will face the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Kerala Tuskers, on the other hand, have jumped up to take the third spot after the win.
