Gautam Gambhir raises a toast to Kolkata Knight Riders' spinners

Kolkata, May 8 (IANS)

Upbeat Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir on Thursday raised a toast to the spinners in his side after the 13-run win over the Delhi Daredevils in their Indian Premier League game at the Eden Gardens. Gambhir had played four spinners in the game and the risk couldn’t have paid off better.

"We knew Delhi would come hard, it was a must-win game for them. But we knew we had options and we were always controlling the game with our spinners.

"Always a blessing in disguise for any skipper to have so many options. No one would ever say that less options are better. I think more options are always better. And for me four spinners is always better. We got quality spinners. Johan (Botha), Piyush (Chawla), Hoggy (Brad Hogg), and Sunil (Narine) are great.

"People keep talking that Kolkata turns and spins, but we've been getting 170 odd runs. And they just lost by 13 runs."

Gambhir said it was a good batting track at the Eden, "and when you have quality in the line-up it doesn't matter".

Johan batted brilliantly: Gambhir

He said the Knights were at one stage thinking of finishing at 160, and getting 170 was a bonus.

Referring to the last over bowled by veteran Daredevils bowler Zaheer khan, which yielded 18 runs, Gambhir said, "That over of Zaheer and the way Johan batted was brilliant. 155 would have been par with Sunil and Hoggy with us."

Asked whether his side would now be all keyed up as it had the winning momentum, Gambhir said: "Don't believe in momentum, it's a new game day after tomorrow and we'll start even again.

"We have to go out and play to our potential and we have everything to lose against Kings XI, who have nothing to lose"

Kings XI Punjab make up the rear of the league table with four points from ten games.