IPL 2014: Gautam Gambhir happy about KKR's fighting spirit

Gautam Gambhir lavished praise on his team which is gathering a great deal of momentum for a push towards the playoff stages, as the competition is nearing the business end. After opening their campaign with a win against the defending champions, the team lost its touch a little in the next few matches but is hanging around and fighting back which is good according the opening batsmen, who is also finding back his rhythm that took them to the title in 2012.

After getting the much needed 2 points against Mumbai Indians (winning by 6 wickets), to stay ahead of their rivals, Gambhir hailed the character of his team.

“This shows the character of the team, after starting with four defeats. The guys were really pumped up to get the campaign back on track,” Gambhir said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

Robin Uthappa, having said before that he enjoys opening the batting helped the team’s cause with a fine 80 off 52 balls, but Gambhir reserved special praise for the bowlers: “Winning the toss, the bowlers did a great job to restrict the team to 140.”

He did not forget to mention the name of Sunil Narine who picked up the wicket of Rohit Sharma in the last over and going for less than run a ball in the death overs.

“He is a mystery bowler and we are lucky to have a bowler like that in our team. He is always important in restricting the opposition.”

Uthappa is relieved that his hard work is finally paying off.

“I have been working hard, I have been improving my skill too. I am trying to play in the V and I am playing with the correct technique too. It’s a result of spending a lot of hours practising,” he said about his playing style which was largely in the straighter region and a treat to watch.

The Man of the Match was thankful to the support cast for helping him to play this match after being hit on his toe by a ball from the young Australian quick, Pat Cummins. He said: “I recently got hit by Cummins on my toe, so I would like to thank my staff for getting me back to play.”

Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma found the wicket a bit tricky.

“The wicket was doing a little bit, it was not an easy pitch to bat. But we were 20 runs short, it was not easy to defend 140 on this ground,” Rohit said.

“You have to consistently keep scoring 170 plus to win games. We have been bowling well, but we haven’t been consistent in our bowling. We have Josh Hazlewood, Marchant de Lange, Krishmar Santokie (as replacements for Lasith Malinga),” Rohit mentioned about the Lankan bowler leaving for the national duties.