23 March,2010 08:02 AM IST | | Anand I Naik
Kolkata Knight Riders' dream run is well and truly over after they succumbed to their third successive defeat u2014 this time against Mumbai Indians yesterday. They began their campaign in style, winning their first two games with aplomb.
While the opposition must be given its due, skipper Sourav Ganguly and coach Dav Whatmore, in all probability, will have to take the blame for the recent debacles.
"We lacked the X Factor and that makes a difference in these games. We needed someone who could up the tempo and give us a boost. We didn't get a big over and that did not allow us to reach 170, which would have been a very good total on this wicket," Ganguly said after the team's seven-wicket defeat.
The skipper was referring to the couple of players in either side who could slam 20-odd runs in an over.
KKR would have looked towards Chris Gayle, considering he was the only batsman in the side yesterday capable of powering the good balls to the fence.u00a0 The West Indies skipper however, played a sedate innings of 75 off 60 balls and never looked threatening even with only a few overs left and eight wickets in hand.
KKR have one more player in their side and when it comes to big-hitters, they do not come as big asu00a0 Aussie Brad Hodge, who is the top run-getter in T20 games. Surprisingly, he was warming the bench. From 84 games, the 35-year-old has scored 2646 runs at an average of 37.80 and a strike rate of 127.88.
The Australian is known for his big-hitting and can muscle his way around any type of bowling. But with Gayle coming in and Ganguly preferring to open the batting rather than shepherd the middle order, Owais Shah was chosen ahead of Hodge to bat down the order.
"I think Shah is a very good middle order batsman and I have full confidence in him. Gayle and I will continue to open and we need someone like Shah in the middle order," Ganguly said, all but announcing that Hodge is not likely to figure in their plans anytime soon.
