Kolkata, May 1 (IANS) Having extracted sweet revenge against the Chennai Super Kings at home – only two days after going down to the three time winners in an away match – Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Gautam Gambhir on Thursday said he was confident of chasing down the visitors’ formidable total considering the firepower in his batting arsenal.
Replying to Chennai’s challenging 165 for 9 at the Eden Gardens, the hosts reached a decisive 169 for three with one ball to spare to carve out a seven wicket win.
Gambhir lauded his boys for their tremendous effort.
“It was an important test for us after we missed out on the last game. It was a test of our character and temperament, coming back and performing here was a tremendous effort.”
The captains aid he had told the team the match was an important test if KKR wanted to play like defending champions.
“I wanted them to play freely and that’s what (Andre Russell) and (Robin) Uthappa did.”
Uthappa (80; 58b, 7×4,1×6) and Russell (55; 32b, 4×4,4×6) put on 112 runs off only 64 balls during an unfinished foruth wicket stasnd to pilot the home side to victory from a position of bother when they were 57 for three in the tenth over.
“We wanted to be positive and we picked wickets and then chased it down. At one point I thought we could contain them to 140-150 but in this format and on this quick outfield it doesn’t always happen,” he said.
He profusely praised Uthappa and Russell.
“The firepower we have I knew we can chase it down. A lot of credit to Russell and Robin.
“One of them had to bat long, last couple of times I did it, one of the top three have to do it and that’s what happened. Robin played a very sensible role especially with Russell you can easily get carried away.”