Sport - Cricket

Hussey all praise for his team

KOLKATA: The questions about the wicket at the Eden Gardens elicited contrasting emotions from the two camps.

Kolkata Knight Riders’ Man-of-the-match David Hussey sought to play down the erratic behaviour of the pitch as a minor aberration. However, Deccan Chargers captain V.V.S. Laxman could not stop being caustic about the surface his team was offered to play on.

“The pitch was not the kind of wicket you expect for this format of the game. The match turned exciting all right, but it was very tough for the batsmen,” Laxman said after the match.

Hussey did not altogether disagree with Laxman’s observation but chose to overlook the pitch factor saying, “possibly it was under-prepared but it wasn’t too bad.”

The home team batsman was more inclined to extolling the way his team pulled itself out of the crisis. “Our captain’s (Sourav Ganguly) batting showed real character and that contributed a lot in getting the team through the crisis,” said Hussey, speaking about the vital fourth-wicket partnership.

“We have won both our matches and hope to make it three out of three in the next match,” he added.

“It was important we played the full 20 overs, that could have given us a bigger score to protect,” Laxman said about his team’s innings folding up “nine balls early.”

The Deccan Chargers captain said there was nothing to be depressed about the loss for “we gave a good fight and the game never turned one-sided.”

About his own batting Laxman said he was, “disappointed at getting a nought. I hope I will be able to score runs in the next match,” he added.

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