Wishing not to dwell at length upon the state of wickets being provided at the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Gautam Gambhir on Friday said that to become champions a team needs to perform well on any given surface.
In the last game that KKR played against Gujarat Lions at their home turf-the Eden Gardens -- they were provided with a seaming track where Lions pacers knocked the Knights top order in no time. Though KKR recovered after an early set back Gujarat were able to cross the line with five wickets to spare.
"If you want to win a tournament, you can't be dependent on surfaces. If you want to be a champion, you should be able to adapt to every situation and every condition. Our spinners and bowlers need to bowl on any kind of surface that is given to us," Gambhir told reporters here.
"We have done reasonably well in this tournament and been pretty much consistent. We have not demanded for anything, whatever wicket we get we should be up for it and we are ready for it."
Gambhir also said crowd support is something that gives an extra boost to sides playing in home conditions.
"Obviously, home advantage does make a difference especially with the crowd's support. When the crowd is in your favour and cheering for you, it does give you an extra boost that you are looking for; especially when you play in places like Eden Gardens or Mumbai or Bengaluru when the crowd is loyal to the teams," he stated.
The team in purple need just two more wins to make it to the play offs and the captain believes the time has come for the different units to gel together and perform collectively.
"There were good signs that people were getting runs, bowlers were performing well but we need to do it together. If you want to win a game of cricket, not one or two individuals can end up winning you a game of cricket. Obviously the batsmen need to do well and the bowlers need to complement them with the fielders complementing both the departments," the discarded Indian opener stated.
KKR's opponent for Saturday's game are the Rising Pune Supergiants who have had a disastrous season this time, but Gambhir said it would not be an easy contest.
"When you turn out for any game as a professional cricketer you don't think on those lines that you have got nothing to lose. The biggest thing that you have to lose is your pride. People play for their pride and their jersey and they would be up for it," the 34-year-old stated.
"They have got lot to lose as well. No one wants to turn out on the field and get back to a losing dressing room. It is going to be even-stevens and hopefully we can play our best cricket tomorrow."
Gambhir said he was a bit surprised on how the wickets have behaved through this competition and added that spinners have not completed their full quota of overs because captains have shown less trust in them.
"It is little weird. You are expecting the wickets to be tired especially after the T20 World cup but apparently the wickets have been very good. It is tough for the bowlers and normally it has been very good wickets to bat on," he said.
"There have been spinners who have done reasonably well in this tournament. Piyush Chawla has bowled really well for us. Sunil Narine coming back has done well for us, Shakib (Al Hasan) too has done well. It also depends on the captains on how they use the spinners."
"Sometimes if you don't have that much of confidence in your spinners you might not even end up bowling their four overs. Amit Mishra (Delhi Daredevils) got two wickets in the previous game but did not bowl his quota of four overs," he said.
--IANS
dd/ajb/dg
