We will plan and try to stop Rohit: Gautam Gambhir

In the lead up to their clash against the Mumbai Indians, the Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Gautam Gambhir has said that his side’s bowling unit will try and work collectively to not allow Rohit Sharma to score too many runs.

The last time the two sides met in this season at the Eden Gardens, Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma smashed a match-winning unbeaten 54-ball 84 to steer them to an easy victory. Interestingly, this remains to be their only defeat this season so far.

“I think one game doesn’t define us the side we are. But sometimes you need to give credit to the opposition as well. And I always believe that Rohit Sharma is a quality player. He was the one who took the game away from us. If someone from the top three can bat through the innings, most of the time the team will end up winning the game,” Gambhir said at the pre-match press conference in Mumbai.

“That is what he did. Let’s see, we will plan something and try and stop him, as he has the most quality in the line-up. We have come a long way as well, after that game we lost we have won three games on the trot. I think we are in pretty good form as well and hopefully, we can continue that tomorrow as well. We have plans for everyone, not just Rohit. We got to bowl well as a unit, we have a quality bowling line-up. If we do that, we will create a lot of opportunities,” he said.

The 34-year-old said batsman Manish Pandey, who is down with chicken pox might return to action in May after gaining full fitness.

“Very unfortunate that someone getting chicken pox at this age. He is going to take time as that is something, even after it gets ok it takes a lot of time for you to recover, so let’s see, hopefully he will be available for us sometime in May. He is a consistent member for us at No.3 and he was hitting the ball really well. Hope he comes back soon,” he said.

The left-handed batsman said that KKR believes in giving players opportunities even if someone fails, adding that the coach and support staff doesn’t believe in changes in the team.

“I believed in giving a lot of security to the players. In today’s world where there are so much insecurity in every job not only cricket. Try and give them lot of security and pick someone and do that with a lot of trust. We are a franchise who does not chop and change too much,” he said.

“If someone doesn’t perform well we do not send him back to the auction or release. We have shown a lot of trust on our domestic players. We have given them freedom to go and express themselves. All of us, coaches and support staffs have allowed players to go out and make mistakes. I think that that differentiates us from rest of the people,” Gambhir said.

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