| Scores | Upcoming | Results |
New Delhi: After Anil Kumble termed the Feroze Shah Kotla wicket 'not ideal' for Twenty20 cricket, Delhi Daredevils captain Gautam Gambhir Sunday joined him to say he prefers to play 'away matches' in the Indian Premier League.
Daredevils were overwhelmed by seven wickets by out of contention Kings XI Punjab Sunday, breaking their three-match winning streak at home.
"I would definitely like to play away matches. The wickets are better at other venues like Kolkata and Bangalore. They have value for shots. At Kotla, is it difficult to go for big shots, one has to focus on accumulating runs. And IPL is all about hitting sixes and going for big shots," Gambhir told reporters.
The Daredevils now need to win two out of their remaining three league matches and Gambhir, visibly upset at his team's performance, said they need to pull up their socks to avoid a last-minute situation.
"We should have scored 160-170 as we have made this total before. With nine batsmen in the side, it is just not acceptable that we have made 111. This is one of the days when we did not play as a team. We now need to pull up our socks," he said.
I would not blame the bowling as we never put up a defendable score. We should have made at least 40 runs more. We would now like to go for wins in our coming two matches as we would not like to be in a last-minute must-win situation.
"We have lost two matches in a row and we need to get our momentum back. I think this has been the trend in IPL that the teams are losing momentum after winning matches," he said.
The Delhi skipper was run out for the third successive time, thanks to a faulty call from teammate David Warner for a single. "Against KKR it was my blunder. It is obviously frustrating when you get out after getting off to a good start. No one likes to get out in this fashion, especially not in the IPL. Hopefully I do not get run out for the fourth time," he said.
