Dhoni is the man to answer, not me: Katich
May 12, 2016 at 9:25 PM
Kolkata Knight Riders will face Rising Pune Supergiants on Saturday. Before their crucial tie against RPS Simon Katich, KKR assistant coach shares his personal view on Ravichandran Ashwin. The Offie has not bowled his quota of four overs in 10 of his last 20 Twenty20 games that included five games for Rising Pune Supergiants in the ongoing IPL. Katich feels Dhoni must have had his reasons for not giving a full quota of overs to his premier spinner Ashwin in most of the IPL recent matches. “Obviously, MS has his reasons. He’s a highly experienced successful captain. And, that’s the hard thing about T20 from the captain’s point of view,” Katich told.
“There are certain moments of the game where you have to go one way or the other. If it goes per plan, the captain looks like a genius. But if it does not his tactics get questioned. It’s never easy. I think whether it’s based on form, the gut feel or the actual conditions, there’s obviously a reason. MS went on that path without a doubt for a reason. I guess he’s the man to answer and not me…” he added.
Kolkata Knight Riders Slipped to third place after their loss to Gujarat Lions. Now, they have to win a minimum two matches from their remaining four matches so as to make the playoff. “It’s been a topsy-turvy tournament for a lot of teams point of view. Gujarat Lions got off to a flying start and went on to lose three matches on the trot, certainly a number of other teams, have also struggled. We lost our last game but have a couple of successive home games now. Hopefully, we turn it around and take some positive momentum into a possible playoff campaign. There’s still a lot of work to go. We don’t assume that it’s given after what happened last year. We want to make sure that we don’t leave the job till the last game. I think it’s going to be a tight tournament as we see the points table at the moment. The next four games are vital to making sure we finish in a good position.” he said.
The Eden wicket is not helping spinners as it used to be earlier but Katich refused to complain and backed his spinners. “Certainly, it has not spun square on this wicket. But it’s been a good cricket wicket, especially the quickies have got a swing. So, I can’t complain about the wicket. And, I don’t think we’re concerned how our spinners have performed, different times all have played vital roles.” Katich said.