Calcutta: Maintaining the same intensity with which Kolkata Knight Riders crushed Royal Challengers Bangalore will be the greatest challenge for Gautam Gambhir and Co. The Knight Riders captain also stressed on the need for everyone to contribute in the game's shortest format.
"If everyone is contributing, it's a great sign for any team. That is what we want from KKR as well. We don't want to be dependent on one or two people, we want to be dependent on everyone. If everyone starts performing, starts chipping in with their performances that is a good sign... If everyone is contributing that's very good for any team. That team is far more dangerous than one which is dependent on one or two individuals.
"There's no surety that one or two individuals will perform everyday, that is more surety if 11-people chip in with their performances in some kind of important situation... If Rising Pune Supergiant is doing that, it is obviously a great sign for them," the Knight Riders captain said in Pune on Tuesday, the eve of their match against Rising Pune.
"We have set the benchmark, now it is up to us how much we can maintain it and keep going forward. It is easy to do it in one game but to maintain it throughout the tournament would be a challenge.
"Now people would be expecting us to do it with the same intensity, what we have set a couple of days back. Hopefully, I think guys realise that and hopefully they are going to deliver. That is what I expect from the team, that is what I expect from myself as well. What I expect from myself and what I expect from my team has to start from me."
Gambhir said the biggest motivation for the side was to win their third IPL title. He also wants to lead from the front because that will serve as an inspiration for the team.
"Players make me a leader, they make me successful. My job is to go out there and try and lead from the front, try and lead as honestly as I can, as passionately as I can. That is what I expect from my own self. I want to be as honest as I can, as hungry as I can, because the moment the hunger goes down, it starts reflecting on the entire team as well.
"So the more hungry I am, the more hungry the team is... The biggest motivation is if we can try and win the third time, we become the most successful side, there is no bigger motivation than that, so hopefully that hunger stays and that reflects on the others as well.
The Knight Riders captain said that they were not taking any team lightly.
"We can't take any team lightly, specially in a competition like IPL... Because all the teams are equally balanced and anyone can beat anyone. That happened with us, when we were playing with Gujarat Lions. All were expecting us to win but Gujarat thrashed us. That is why I said, we can't let go the intensity... The competition is such, every team is very balanced."
Gambhir also spoke about the pride associated with being a member of the Knight Riders squad and the pep talk he delivered before the Royal Challengers Bangalore innings got underway at the Eden. The Royal Challengers were bowled out for 49, the lowest total in IPL.
Gambhir said he was concentrating on his own team and not giving much importance to the presence of even a match-winner like Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the opposition.
"Dhoni is a quality player. We all know what he has done for India and in IPL as well. That is all I have to say... It's an important game... What KKR will do tomorrow is all that matters."
