Kolkata: It was the second homecoming for Kolkata’s very own Sourav Ganguly with another IPL franchise. Last time when he came here o play for Pune Warriors back in 2012 the result didn’t go in his team’s favour as they lost to KKR but it was second time lucky for the Prince of Kolkata as Delhi Capitals beat KKR at the Eden Gardens by 7 wickets on Friday. It was two in two for DC as they beat Kolkata Knight Riders both in away and home fixtures. Sourav looked really happy after his team’s win.”It’s a great win actually. Two in two against a very strong team is a remarkable job by the boys. We are very much satisfied with today’s performance. I thought it was very clean performance,” said Sourav at the post match press conference.
Ganguly termed this win as a very special win as it’s his own home venue which is considered as India’s one of the best grounds.”Everything at Eden is special. It’s the best ground in the country, the best pitch and I thought we bowled exceptionally well to restrict them to 178. It was actually a 200 pitch and we chased it down easily so it’s always great winning here.” Added Sourav.
Delhi Capitals advisor lauded Rishabh’s calm performance as well. He also termed him as a great talent.”He played according to the situation. We pushed him up at 4 to give him more opportunity to bat. He is a great talent and a terrific player and he is only going to get better. All these young players Prithvi, Shreyas, Rishabh and Shikhar is one of the best opening batsman in the world and we will do better in next matches,” said Sourav.
It was Shikhar Dhawan’s best score in IPL as he remained not out on 97 and took his over he line. On being asked about Shikhar’s classic batting, Sourav said,”Today’s innings was just like actual Shikhar Dhawan innings. After getting set he took the game away from KKR. When he plays in ODIs for India he bats like this when he gets set. He is a class act. In international cricket he scores runs continuously in shorter format. We were desperate to sign Dhawan when he learnt that SRH is releasing him. It’s good to see him score big runs.”
Sourav feels that its more pressure when he sits in the dugout during the game.”It’s more pressure there when you are in there in the dugout. When you are a player you can bat but in the dugout you can’t do that. Here it’s nothing in our hands. It’s lot easier when you play,” said Ganguly.
When a person asked whether he read the wicket better than KKR team management here, Sourav funnily replied,”KKR plays here every day, but we don’t.”