IPL 2016: Robin Uthappa feels spinners let Kolkata Knight Riders down

Usually after a loss, teams tend to analyse their performance and identify what went wrong. When one takes a look at the scorecard of the match between Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders, the late collapse could be discerned as the reason behind Kolkata’s loss.

However, wicket-keeper batsman Robin Uthappa has opined that a below-par outing for their spinners led the Knight Riders to a second consecutive loss. The Indian Express reported the 30-year-old sharing his thoughts on the aftermath of the riveting contest at the Feroz Shah Stadium in Delhi.

Uthappa reflected, “Kotla generally has a tag of slow track, but it was a really good track – Flat and hard. The ball skidded off and nicely came on to bat. Our spinners were nullified today. But, spinners are our strength and the idea was to back our strength.”

Lamenting the inability of the death bowlers to stem the leakage of runs, he noted, “With little more discipline, we could have restricted them to less than 160. We took our foot off pedal after getting the first three wickets and bowled some rank bad balls.”

The Knight Riders batsman was also full of praise for Zaheer Khan’s terrific bowling effort. Uthappa affirmed, “Zak bowled as well as he has always done. He is a very cunning bowler. He does not give you much. It’s tough to go on offensive against him. He still has that zip but surely that pace has dropped. But, it still came nicely on to bat.”

One of the talking points of the encounter was Piyush Chawla’s inexplicable promotion to number 3 in the batting lineup. On a possible tactical blunder by the think tank, Uthappa refuted by suggesting, “He is not a dud with the bat.”

The Coorg-born cricketer asserted, “He has done well in first class cricket. Since Manish Pandey is not there, it gives us this luxury of trying these things.” The Knight Riders travel to the home of Royal Challengers Bangalore in their next match on Monday.