'We Can't Be This Sloppy...,' Nitish Rana Blasts his Team After a Loss Against GT
Nitish Rana and Hardik Pandya [Image- IPLT20]
Kolkata Knight Riders captain Nitish Rana was quite honest in his assessment at the post-match presentation following his teams' defeat to the Gujarat Titans on Saturday evening as he lamented on the inability of his players in clinching crucial moments.
Despite Rahmanullah Gurbaz's whirlwind knock at the top of the order, and a brilliant cameo from Andre Russell at the death, KKR could only manage 179 in 20 overs, and that was because of yet another listless performance from their middle-order, including Rana himself.
Rana admitted that his team was clearly 20-25 runs short of a par score, but, then, given how his bowlers bowled, one doubts if even those would have been enough.
The KKR skipper was equivocal in his assessment for his bowlers, admitting that they didn't bowl according to the plains and the field designed for them.
Here's what Nitish Rana said:
"I think we were 20-25 runs short, up against top teams, we can't be this sloppy with the bat. We didn't get partnerships developing, other than Gurbaz and Russell, no one else, including me, scored. If we got a good partnership in the middle overs, we could have done better. In crucial games and against top oppositions, you need to do all the basics well in all the three departments of the game. The batting was ok today, but we didn't bowl well. Need to do well in the small moments, bowl according to the plan and do the basics well."
KKR have now lost 5 out of their last 6 games, and have slipped to the 7th spot in the points table.
They will next face the SunRisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi stadium on May 04.
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