Everything was going well for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) led by Dinesh Karthik but then they met Mumbai Indians in a couple of games which grabbed the eyeballs in nutshell.
To be precise, since then the story has been reversed for KKR as they suddenly found themselves on the wrong side of the things. They not only lost the game against Mumbai but also the confidence and more importantly, Net Run-Rate (NRR) has been a worrying sign for the Kolkata-based franchise.
We lost the game in powerplay: Dinesh
Skipper Karthik felt that they were never in the game once the powerplay overs finished. He added that it is never going to be easy in a chase of 210 when the powerplay doesn’t go in your way and added that such losses dent the morale.
However, Karthik showed his optimistic side as well during an interview.
”200 is always a big ask. We didn’t bat well enough. If we had held on to our catches, you never know. It was a good batting wicket. When you lose wickets in the powerplay, you are always playing catch up. We weren’t in the game after the powerplay. We just took it as a normal game. Chin up for the boys and keep moving forward,” Karthik said during a post-match presentation at Eden Gardens.
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I have to make them believe we can make it: Karthik
Karthik further urged his boys to level up their skills and come good in impending games. As a leader, he takes the responsibility to bring back the confidence in the team for reaching playoffs stage.
”We need to raise our skill levels and that is the most important thing. This kind of losses can put you down and that is where I as a leader need to stand up. Be honest about it. We need to believe and I have to make them believe we can make it to the playoffs,” he concluded.
However, the win ensured Mumbai Indians to stay alive in the tourney while the life eventually became hard for Knight Riders in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Apart from the loss, the Net-Run-Rate took a massive beating for the home side.
Coming to the points table, Knight Riders slipped to the fifth position with 12 points in their kitty alongside Mumbai. With the loss on Wednesday (May 9), the rapid change for a playoff berth is still on.
Coming to next game, they will take on Kings XI Punjab as Dinesh Karthik would be eyeing to give their best.
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