Gambhir lauds Kolkata response

gautamgambhir

The Indian Premier League winners slumped to 51-5 in pursuit of a victory target of 158 in the tournament's first match in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

But Andre Russell (58) and Ryan ten Doeschate (51 not out) saved the day, adding 80 runs for the sixth wicket in less than eight overs.

And that set the platform for Kolkata to beat the Chennai Super Kings with an over to spare - much to the delight of Gambhir.

"The way Russell batted [and] the way Ryan batted was unbelievable," Gambhir said.

"I need to mention Sunil Narine - he is a special guy. Giving [away] nine runs in four overs - [he] always controls the game for us.

"This is one tournament we haven't won. [The] guys are pretty motivated to go out there and turn it around for us.

"We were looking to go hard at the top [but] it didn't work.

"We didn't start off well in the chase but we always knew it was a matter of a couple of good overs."

Ten Doeschate added that their win was "very, very crucial" and that Kolkata "would have earmarked Chennai as probably the strongest team in the group".

Chennai captain MS Dhoni felt his side should have scored more runs and bemoaned their failure to convert starts.

Dhoni also acknowledged that Russell and ten Doeschate changed the game, saying: "I don't think we had enough runs on the board.

"Their spinners bowled very well. I didn't know if we could defend 160 on this track, but the pacers bowled very well.

"The difference was their lower-order batting, especially Russell and the other guy [ten Doeschate]."

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