Bowlers set up the game for us: Gambhir

JOHANNESBURG: Happy to be at the top of the points table, Delhi Daredevils captain Gautam Gambhir lavished praise on his bowlers for setting up
their seven-wicket win against the Kolkata Knight Riderson Sunday.

"The bowlers set up the game with those early wickets," Gambhir said after the match.

"Once they reduced the Knight Riders to nine for three, it was easy for us," said the left-hander.

The Knight Riders could not recover from those early blows and it was fighting knocks from Sourav Ganguly (44) and Ajit Agarkar (39) which enabled them to post 123 for eight, a score that was just not enough.

The Daredevils got off to a strong start with David Warner (36) and Gambhir (18) adding 53 runs, thus setting the tone for the chase.

Gambhir said the idea was not to lose too many early wickets.

"We've not been chasing big totals so the important thing for us was to hang in there and bat till the end," he said.

Looking ahead, Gambhir said the team could not afford to lower its guard despite its place at the top of the points table.

"Still five more games to go, so we need to hold the momentum," he said.

His opposite number Brendon McCullum admitted 123 was a below-par course for the match.

"Not enough runs on the board. We fought well to get 120, but those three wickets at the top hurt us," McCullum rued.

"Around 20-30 runs more and it could have been a close game," he added.

Asked about the Knight Riders' prolonged misery in the tournament, McCullum said the team was not clicking in all three departments together.

"We are not consistent across the board, we need to get all three facets of the game firing at the same time. At times our bowlers are doing well but fielding is letting us down. Sometimes we are not batting good enough," he lamented.

Amit Mishra was adjudged Man of the Match for his three-wicket haul and the leggie said his variation paid off today.

"I'm bowling well. I'm just bowling my normal leg-spin and adding some variation to put pressure on the batsmen," he said.

Source:http://ipl.timesofindia.indiatimes.com