The Hindu : Sport : Hayden’s knock did it for us

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Monday, May 18, 2009
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Hayden’s knock did it for us

The overall problem with Knight Riders, I feel, is their lack of confidence, writes Stephen Fleming

It was a difficult game against Mumbai Indians on Saturday, but Matthew Hayden really dug in to take us to yet another exciting win. Lasith Malinga and Dwayne Bravo did exceptionally well to rein him in the initial stages.

The wicket, too, was playing slow, and we were nervous chasing in the second half, but Hayden hung around and waited for the opportunities to come his way, and with ample support from M.S. Dhoni, took us home.

Another two or three wickets down and we would have been in real trouble, so having wickets in hand allowed us to be more aggressive at the end.

We take on Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday, whom we will be playing for the first time this year, the rain having played spoilsport earlier.

Bad luck for KKR

Unfortunately for Knight Riders, nothing seems to be going right. They have had some bad luck and lost close matches.

However, we can’t afford to be complacent against them, as they have nothing to lose at this point, and could come out firing on all cylinders.

Knight Riders have some good all-rounders and they are batting well at the moment. Brendon McCullum, David Hussey and Brad Hodge are all dangerous players.

Brendon, especially, has been batting well lately. He came into this tournament after a good series against India. I don’t think KKR’s misfortunes will dent his confidence, though.

McCullum disappointed

I know he is extremely disappointed at the way things have turned out but, knowing him, this will make him all the more dangerous. He always wants to do well, and the way he is batting now bodes well for New Zealand for the forthcoming T20 World Cup.

The overall problem with Knight Riders, I feel, is their lack of confidence and their form. Their bowling, too, seems to be a weak link.

We are in good enough form right now, despite some below-par performances in the last few matches. So we just have to keep on doing what we have been doing and put pressure on them with a big score if we bat first.

It won’t be the end of the world if we do lose to them because we have more or less made it to the last four, but we still want to win. We have to win both our matches — against KKR and Punjab (our last league outing) — so that we finish the stage as top qualifiers.

Gameplan

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