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Gambhir heaps praise on bowlers

Johannesburg: Happy to be at the top of the points table, Delhi Daredevils captain Gautam Gambhir lavished praise on his bowlers for setting up its seven-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders here on Sunday.

“The bowlers set up the game with those early wickets,” Gambhir said.

“Once they reduced the Knight Riders to nine for three, it was easy for us,” said the left-hander.

Early blows

Knight Riders could not recover from those early blows and it was fighting knocks from Sourav Ganguly (44) and Ajit Agarkar (39) which enabled it to post 123 for eight, a score that was just not enough.

Daredevils got off to a strong start with David Warner (36) and Gambhir (18) adding 53 runs, thus setting the tone for the chase.

Gambhir said the idea was not to lose too many early wickets.

“We’ve not been chasing big totals so the important thing for us was to hang in there and bat till the end,” he said.

Looking ahead, Gambhir said the team could not afford to lower its guard despite its place at the top of the points table.

“Still five more games to go, so we need to hold the momentum,” he said.

Not enough runs

His opposite number Brendon McCullum admitted 123 was a below-par score for the match.

“Not enough runs on the board. We fought well to get 120, but those three wickets at the top hurt us,” McCullum rued.

“Around 20-30 runs more and it could have been a close game,” he added. — PTI

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