Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir made no bones about the fact that he got a raw deal from umpire Nigel Llong which prompted an angry reaction from him as he cursed on his way back and flung his bat angrily on reaching the dug-out.
Gambhir was adjudged caught behind off Dale Steyn when the ball clearly missed the edge by good two inches.
“I would not have reacted that way had I nicked it. Just happened in the heat of the moment as it was a big game for us,” skipper Gambhir said at the post-match presentation not hiding what he felt about the decision by the English umpire.
Gambhir gave a lot of credit to the bowlers for restricting the Sunrisers Hyderabad to 142 as he was expecting to chase 160-odd.
“I want to give credit to the bowlers for their performance on such a wicket. Looking at the wicket, playing three spinners, we were looking at chasing 160-odd. The three spinners bowled brilliantly to restrict them.”
Rival skipper Darren Sammy admitted that his boys didn’t bat well at the death.
“The dot balls at the end cost us. The bowlers fought back to make a game out of it. Also we dropped catches. We know that catches win matches and we dropped two crucial ones today,” a dejected Sammy said.
The West Indies’ T20 skipper said that conditions in Hyderabad were different.
“Different conditions from last year (in Hyderabad) but we have had some good games. We have not capitalised on key moments. It is not over, we have to win all three and hope some results go in our favour.”
Man of the match Umesh Yadav seemed happy with the rhythm he has got.
“I am very happy with my bowling and that we have won. I stuck to my plan, I have been working hard, my rhythm came back. I have been working on my basics. It was a good wicket, there was bounce, swing, I was enjoying bowling on it.”
