‘The top order needs to be blamed’-Gautam Gambhir slams KKR batsman for their dismal performance against CSK

Kolkata Knight Riders who were involved in the bizarre run chase against CSK where they lost five wickets for 31 runs in 5.2 overs.

Nobody would have given a chance to them but the individual brilliance from the players like Andre Russell and Pat Cummins at the end brought them close to the total and eventually Kolkata based franchise lost the game with a meager difference of 18 runs.

CSK Pacer Deepak Chahar was again brilliant in that match where he picked four wickets in the first five overs.

Former KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir pointed out the reasons which led to the debacle of KKR in the recently concluded encounter against CSK.

He added that the top-order needs to show more solidarity in the middle and play with utmost responsibility and the batsman were in panic which is an unusual thing on a pitch like Wankhede which is known for producing flat tracks where the batsman has an edge over the players.

“The top order [needs to be blamed]. Eventually, they [the lower order] ran out of partners. It’s not that they couldn’t have chased this total but they just ran out of partners. If No. 6, 7 and 8 can take you this close then it really shows that there was no application. Chasing 220, there are certain venues like Wankhade or Chinnaswamy where you don’t need to panic,” Gautam Gambhir told ESPNcricinfo.

He lauded players like Russell, Cummins, and Karthik to show intent in the middle as the IPL winning skipper stated that if they failed to deliver yesterday KKR would have lost the game by 150 runs at least.

“They [the lower-order] took the game this close, they could have been all out for 70 or 80 as well. Because the kind of batters Russell and Dinesh Karthik are, they will watch the ball and hit it. At 36-5, had Russell played a big shot which wouldn’t have come off they could have been 40-6. So they could have been beaten by 150-odd runs as well. You need to give platform to guys like Russell, Karthik and Pat Cummins where they can come and explode. Yes they might take you this close, they might win you the game as well. But its actually the responsibility of the top order to give them the foundation,” concluded Gautam Gambhir.