After thrashing Mumbai Indians at Eden Gardens, our Knights’ next stop was Mohali. It was another must win game for Kolkata Knight Riders and a clinical batting made it look easier than many may have had anticipated.
Without taking any credit away from our batters, one can not overlook the importance and the role Sandeep Warrier has played with the ball since he entered the IPL fray.
He was very economical in his spell of four overs against MI and put Rohit and co. under pressure in a mammoth chase. Playing only his 2nd IPL match last night against KXIP, the fast bowler showed a lot of maturity and performed like a true ‘warrior’.
Here’s what he had to say during post match press conference:
Q. What was your plan against the KXIP batsmen?
SW: Mainly I was just trying to be not very predictable to them (Batsman) as the wicket was holding a bit at the start, since my strength is my swing so I was just trying to swing it both ways and mix it with slower deliveries.
Q. What was your understanding of the pitch and how did it help in picking two crucial wickets?
SW: I tried swinging the ball early on but it wasn’t happening so I went with back of length deliveries and it wasn’t coming onto the bat pretty well. So, it was difficult to hit the back of length deliveries which is why I stuck to that plan and it worked well.
Q. What was the discussion and the message from DK in the first innings?
SW: Honestly, I was not a part of that discussion at that time, but he (DK) was just telling the players to be on their toes and focus on every delivery.
Sandeep finished with 2 for 31 in his quota of four overs. He picked up two huge wickets in KL Rahul and Chris Gayle which will certainly boost his confidence as the challenges will be bigger when we face MI in Mumbai to confirm the last IPL 2019 playoff spot.
