Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan rued that Eden Gardens pitch isn’t assisting spinners.
KKR’s fate hangs in balance after a nine-wicket defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), yesterday.
Admitting that their loss was a setback, the left-arm spinner said: “I can talk of myself and I would say yes, we are not getting that advantage (from the pitch). We are a spin dependent team, so we always expect some assistance at home. We have not been getting that till now. It’s a bit disappointing for the players.”
The two-time former champion will have to win its remaining two matches to assure itself a play off berth. Out of six home matches this season, KKR have lost three: to Mumbai Indians, Gujarat Lions and RCB.
The Eden Gardens strip has been unusually flat this year. But the Bangladeshi all-rounder refused to blame the surface and said his team would bounce back to finish among top two.
“To be honest, we cannot blame the pitch. We have enough quality players to win the matches on our own. Maybe, we didn’t do well at home the way it’s expected. But overall we’re in a good position. It’s important to play next two matches well.”
Shakib also defended his skipper Gautam Gambhir, who dropped an easy catch of Virat Kohli when he was on 32.
“I don’t think it was a turning point. But since he was in good form, our chances would have been brighter had we not dropped the catch and de Villiers would have come under a bit more pressure. But I would never say we lost the match because of one catch. They had other batsmen who could have scored the runs.”
“They (RCB) have quality batsmen. The way they scored runs there was nothing much we could do. We tried our best but they played better cricket.”
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