Calcutta: ‘Something out of nothing’ seemed to be Kolkata Knight Riders captain Sourav Ganguly’s philosophy on the eve their match against the Rajasthan Royals at the Eden.
On paper, the Knights are still not out of the semi-final race. But chances of the KKR qualifying for the semis are as remote as an Ashok Dinda opening the batting.
Asked what was his team’s motivation ahead of the game, Sourav, at the press conference said: “There are a lots of reasons to motivate us. We have two more games to play and mathematically we are not out of the semis race yet. I know we only have a remote chance, but that won’t stop us from playing a competitive game. ”
“It is possible to win these two games and that will only help ourselves. Whether that helps us to qualify will only be clear after the second match. There’s no point in pondering upon other equations and our primary objective should be to win the remaining matches ,” he added.
Elaborating on their dismal journey in this edition of the Indian Premier League, the former India captain said that the match against the Kings XI Punjab at home, which they lost in spite of putting up a total of 200, was the turning point for them.
“We were in contention before our last two games in Bangalore and Chennai. In Bangalore we failed to build on a good start… We should have scored more than what we eventually got. Also, in the match against the Kings XI Punjab, we failed to defend a total of 200. That loss turned out to be crucial for ,” he said.
Speaking on Chris Gayle, who didn’t take an active part at Friday’s practice, Sourav said: “He is not well today… But hopefully will be fit for the match tomorrow.”
Asked about principal owner Shah Rukh Khan expressing his disappointment on the team’s performances on his Twitter account, Sourav said he was justified in being upset.
“SRK is still very much an active member of our set-up. This is the third season when we haven’t lived up to the expectations. So, his disappointment is understandable and on the spot. I will speak to him as soon as the tournament finishes,” said Sourav.
