Gautam Gambhir livid after KKR's batting performance against MI

What’s the story?

The Kolkata Knight Riders skipper was dejected after the team’s concluding game of the league stages. He opined that it was the batting department that let them down as they fell short by nine runs in the chase against Mumbai Indians. The highest individual score by a batsman was 33, in spite of which KKR nearly pulled off the chase but in the end, the entire team’s attempt went in vain. The shot selection or the execution was rather poor which swallowed the top six batsmen of the Knight Riders.

"It was a very chaseable total. If we had batted sensibly we would have chased it down, but there were some irresponsible shots," he said after the game. He then added, "Had someone batted till the end, we could have chased it down."

In case you didn’t know...

KKR replaced the injured Chris Woakes with Trent Boult in the playing XI for this game and put up a decent bowling performance to limit Mumbai Indians to a final score of 173. Chasing down all kinds of targets has been Kolkata’s strength, particularly at Eden Gardens.

The heart of the matter

Of late, however, KKR have struggled to chase down big totals. The team have suffered two consecutive losses while chasing and that’ll worry the team management as the tournament now enters the knockout stages. For Gambhir, it was the approach that caused irritation.

"I thought we were trying to chase it down in 10-12 overs... We were one batter short so we had to take the responsibility. We have to pull up our socks," he said.

A similar approach has worked in KKR’s favour in the past. Six out of eight wins have come while chasing this season for the team and only once have they taken it down to the 20^th over. Habitually, the triumphant run-chases have all come when the team’s run rate was 10 or more.

Last night saw the team witness their third loss while chasing this season. Earlier in the league, they were vanquished by the in-form David Warner’s excellence as he went berserk setting a target of 209. Nevertheless, in the other two games, KKR have fallen short while chasing targets that were well within reach. Against Kings XI Punjab, there was no one threatening apart from Chris Lynn who could have taken them over the line, whereas last night, there were many who got starts but no one finished it off.

What’s next?

KKR are starting to discover faults while marching towards the business end of the tournament which, of course, the skipper isn’t pleased about. The loss against Mumbai denied KKR the berth in the top two seeds and has forced them to play the first eliminator in Bangalore on 17th May.

"If we bat like this, it does not matter whether we are in the playoffs or not. If we have to win the tournament we will have to bat sensibly," Gambhir signed off.

Author’s take

It has been a disappointing finish for KKR in the league stages as carrying the momentum into the knockout stages plays a vital role. But more importantly, they have secured a position in the top four which tells us that KKR are unquestionably a quality side. If they do put the past behind and players show character with their respective tasks, they undoubtedly have a great shot at winning their third title and will be the first franchise to do so.