IPL 2016: Eden Gardens pitch is not favouring our spinners, says Shakib Al Hasan

Shakib Al Hasan in action last night at the Eden Gardens

In a must-win game for both the teams, Royal Challengers Bangalore chased down a target of 183 last night, defeating the Kolkata Knight Riders by nine wickets at the Eden Gardens. A pitch that generally favours spin, was quite flat in the last game, costing the Kolkata spinners the game. 

The Bangladeshi all-rounder, Shakib Al Hasan lashed out at the Eden Gardens pitch, saying it did not assist the spinners in yesterday’s game. KKR bowling department is dependent on their spin-trio of Shakib, Piyush Chawla and Sunil Narine, who failed to capitalize on the home conditions, as the pitch was unusually not spinner-friendly.

"I can talk of myself and I would say yes, we are not getting that advantage (from the pitch). We are a spin dependent team, so we always expect some assistance at home. We have not been getting that till now. It's a bit disappointing for the players," Shakib said at the press conference after the game last night. 

KKR now face a situation similar to last season of the Indian Premier League, having to win both their remaining games to secure a place in the playoffs. The defending champions last year, were eliminated from the group stage.

The Knight Riders have lost three out of their six home games this season, against Mumbai Indians, Gujarat Lions and the latest against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Shakib was confident that his team will win the next two games to finish in the top two positions.

"We have enough quality players to win the matches on their own. Maybe, we didn't do well at home the way it's expected. But overall we're in a good position. It's important to play next two matches well."

The RCB Skipper, Virat Kohli, was dropped on 32 by Gautam Gambhir, and Kolkata had to pay the price for it, as Kohli went on to score 75 to take Bangalore home. As most people would have called the drop-catch a turning point in the game, Shakib defended his captain saying the catch was not the cause of the defeat.

"I don't think it was a turning point. But since he was in good form, our chances would have been brighter had we not dropped the catch and De Villiers would have come under a bit more pressure. But I would never say we lost the match because of one catch. They had other batsmen who could have scored the runs."

"They (RCB) have quality batsmen. The way they scored runs there was nothing much we could do. We tried our best but they played better cricket."

Kohli and AB de Villiers together have scored 894 runs in 10 innings for RCB in this season. They even set a record 229-run partnership for the second-wicket against the Gujarat Lions at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore on 14 May.