Unfazed Gambhir looks at positives

The situation didn’t seem to faze Gautam Gambhir all that much. “I think there are some positives to take from this game, like we stretched it to the final over,” the Knight Riders skipper told newsmen. “We need one win from two games, and that’s all I will be telling the team.”

For the second time in the competition, Chris Gayle, himself a former Knight, hurt the Kolkatans. “We just concentrated on executing our plans. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t,” Gambhir said, philosophically. Interestingly enough, Gayle’s IPL IV campaign began against the Knight Riders, when he made a hundred and took the man of the match award. On Saturday, his 12-ball 38 was enough to give him a fourth man of the match award.

The Knight Riders’ innings was halted by the weather at 69 for three in the 11th over, and on resumption, the match was reduced to 13 overs a side. “We always look at keeping wickets in hand, that is what we believe in,” Gambhir pointed out. “And I feel we looked good to get 150-155 but the weather is not under our control.

“The wicket was spongy to begin with and the ball stopped a bit. Charl (Langeveldt) bowled in good areas. We can’t take that away from their bowlers.”

There was a touch of controversy towards the end when Saurabh Tiwary was denied a runner. “That’s not in my hands, I had nothing to do with it,” Gambhir said in his defence. “You will have to ask the umpires what they based their decision on.”

Refusing to dwell too much on the West Indies tour, where the left-hander will lead the team in the one-off T20 international and the five 50-over games, all Gambhir would say was, “There’s a lot of talent in the side. Yes, Sachin, Viru, Zaheer and Dhoni will be missed, but we can still do well. But right now my focus is on the IPL. I like to stay in the present and at the moment, the IPL is my priority.”