On the eve of the IPl 2014 final, captains of both teams, Kings XI Punjab’s George Bailey and Kolkata Knight Riders’ Gautam Gambhir sat together to interact with the media in Bangalore on Saturday. Excerpts from the meet
If it is KXIP batting vs KKR bowlingIJ
George Bailey: I certainly don't feel so. I can't talk about Gautam but last time I checked our team got the most number of wickets and that's the most important thing for us. It depends how you see it. If a team against you score 200 and you chase it, that means your bowlers did well. So it depends on the pitch. I think both sides are happy with their bowling and batting. You can't make it to the final just on the back of half of your team doing well. You need the whole team to do well.
Gautam Gambhir: Absolutely, I agree with George. To reach the final of such a high-profile tournament you need contribution from all the three departments. So, we can't just depend on our bowling to take us to the final. We have done well in our bowling as well as batting. Similarly Punjab have done well in all the departments.
Do you feel content that you have proved critics wrong by sticking to the same group of players and reaching finalIJ
Gambhir: Critics are there to criticize and we don't give that much importance to them. Most important thing is what the players sitting in the dressing room think about me and what I feel about them as well. looking around I find a lot of strong individuals who are determined to do well this time around. People can say anything but I never had anything to prove to anyone. All I want to prove is to the players that are sitting with me in the dressing room. That's my family.
Initially Virender Sehwag wasn't consistent but you keep on insisting to have him in the team. Does it feel satisfying now that he has played such an important innings against ChennaiIJ
Bailey: I think you are being harsh on him. He has played many beautiful innings for us. He hadn't scored the big scores that we all love to see. He scored a nice 70 against Kolkata early on in the season and he got some beautiful 30s and 40s. The good thing about him is that he forces opposition to think about where to bowl to him and changing their plans. The thing to measure him on is how much he has helped management in developing young players. It was nice that he played such a good knock that he always wanted to play and we also wanted him to play. It was just the vintage from the master.
How important is the break before the finalIJ
GG: It was important for the group to have the break because when you play such a long tournament you don't always get breaks. I think the guys deserved it and hopefully we all come out fresh tomorrow.
You won the match last night and travelled today. Is that a problemIJ
GB: At least we are in the final! I think we got to do it whichever way it turns out. It's a long tournament and when you get to this stage, everyone is a bit tired but I don't think you will find any tiredness in our steps when we walk out there tomorrow.