Hyderabad :Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Gautam Gambhir today blamed his fielders for their 48-run loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad in an IPL encounter.
David Warner smashed a 59-ball 126 to power Sunrisers to an imposing 209-3. They then returned to restrict KKR to 161-7 in their stipulated 20 overs.
Disappointed at their fielding effort, Gambhir said: “We need to improve in our fielding, we’ve been very sloppy throughout the tournament. We really need to pull up our socks.
“It all depends on concentration, how much you can focus and how much every run means to you, it’s not like we don’t know how to field.
“We dropped Warner today and that’s what cost us. Bowler’s couldn’t have done much, but credit goes to him for the shots he played.”
In the 10th over, Warner was dropped by Chris Woakes when he played a lofted drive off Kuldeep Yadav. With Woakes spilling a sitter, it went for a six.
Sunrisers captain Warner, who was adjudged the Man of the Match, described it as an outstanding performance and praised his bowlers for their effort.
“It was outstanding, we generally look to bat first and set the tone with a positive intent from ball one. We managed to maintain the run rate of 10 an over, which was amazing,” Warner said.
“We (him and Dhawan) keep working around the strike and we’ve been gelling together over all. Credit to out bowlers: to Siraj, the way he’s been learning and performing; Bhuvi is amazing.
PTI