Focusing on Gambhir alone will only get us into trouble: Katich

TIL Desk Sports/ Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will not be focusing on Gautam Gambhir alone when their most successful former captain leads Delhi Daredevils (DD) at the Eden Gardens in a big-ticket Indian Premier League (IPL) game on Monday, assistant coach Simon Katich said.

“I think from our point of view, it’s about performing well against the opposition. If you start playing the man rather than the ball, you know you are in trouble in this game,” Katich told reporters on the eve of the game. “There are a lot of new faces in the team. There are guys who have joined from other teams, some youngsters so it’s not the exact same team that played under Gautam for so many years.

“Yes there will be emotions involved from I guess Gautam’s point of view because he had a fantastic time here as captain and was very successful. We know he will be up for the challenge as three of the Sunrisers boys were last night (Manish Pandey, Yusuf Pathan, Shakib Al Hasan),” Katich added.

Gambhir led KKR to two IPL triumphs in 2012 and 2014 and is their all-time highest scorer. “Gautam knows our team inside out. He will know the wicket and conditions really well. He knows about a lot of players who have been here for a long time,” Katich added.