“Like any foreign captain, it took me a while to understand each and every player, his ability, temperament and utility to the team. The loss of form of the main players like Mahela, Yuvi and myself had compounded our misery,” Kumara Sangakkara, captain Kings XI Punjab told The Times of India. He added, “Our recent victories over the top two teams Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils, show that we are not a bad team, but put ourselves in a bad position by playing poor cricket at the beginning. … it feels good to step on the toes of the teams desperate for semifinal berths. Being party-spoilers at the late stage has given us some pleasure.”
“Shane Warne is not sure whether he will play in the fourth season of IPL. The Rajasthan Royals captain-cum-coach gave himself a 50-50 chance of playing next season. I have not been playing too much cricket and needed a couple of games to get into it. I think I bowled well after the first three games, he said. The fact that he is 40 and not getting younger, is not lost on him. As of now, I really don’t know,” reported the Times of India.
“The tournament is springing surprises everyday and few games have produced results to keep us alive, maybe with a remote chance. But we need to survive on our own, look at our cause, win matches and keep the tournament alive for ourselves. … It is indeed painful to find ourselves in the current situation…We should try and find solace for our millions of fans by winning the last two matches at home. At least, they will realize that the Knight Riders' were a team, who had the potential of a podium finish but just didn't make it. As captain though, it shall be no consolation for me,” Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Sourav Ganguly wrote in the Hindustan Times.
“It's not in our hands now. It depends on Deccan Chargers who have two matches while we have only one. We are supposed to win that match and hope — that is not wishing them bad — they go down. The loss against Kings XI Punjab really hurts you,” Mahindra Singh Dhoni, captain, Chennai Super Kings was quoted as saying by DNA. He added, “One of the departments of concern is the fast bowling. If we had one or two Indian fast bowlers who could have done well consistently, then the whole combination of the side would have changed.”
“I know that a lot of us want to be out there all the time, but it doesn’t happen in the IPL with ten guys on the squads but only four places in a playing XI. I understand that situation too because the IPL is as much about big-ticket cricket and glamour as it is about the development of Indian players, particularly the younger ones. Then there are times, like on Thursday night, that you see the experience of a seasoned Indian first class player come through at a key moment. We’ve got a few in the Daredevils squad and we know how valuable they are,” Daniel Vettori wrote in The Times of India.
“Our support staff has done a great job but they cannot go out and play for us, and against Chennai we needed something special after losing four early wickets. The pitch had reasonable carry and bounce, though it was the spinners who had a field day and Ashwin was really good. Raina, too, was brilliant and took the game away from us: he never really gave us a chance,” wrote Shane Bond in The Times of India.
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