Bengaluru: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Gautam Gambhir said that after losing five wickets in the first six-seven overs, it was always going to be difficult for his side to come back and win against Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL) second qualifier game at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday.
KKR were in the dumps by the seventh over, losing half of their side for just 31 runs on the board. Putting up a paltry 107 on the board, it was always an uphill task for the men in purple and in the end Krunal Pandya's 45 off 30 balls took Mumbai home comfortably.
Mumbai will now take on Rising Pune Supergiant in the final on Sunday.
"Had we got 140 odd, we could have been in the game. We all know they are a quality side and we had to be up for it. If you lose 5 wickets in the first 6-7 overs, you never recover," Gambhir said after the match.
"We kept losing wickets and could never target any particular bowler. We thought 130-140 would have given us something to make a game out it.
"We discussed after the last game as well this is not a 160-170 wicket," the left-hander, who got out for just 12 tonight, said.
"(Ishank) Jaggi and Surya (Kumar Yadav) got us to 107. That was still a decent effort. But 107 was never enough to get the opposition all-out," Gambhir said.
Suryakumar (31) and Jaggi (28) stitched together a 56-run partnership for the sixth wicket but that was not enough to take KKR to a respectable total.
Summing up the season, Gambhir who has more often than not led from the front with the bat and also on the field, said: "Proud of the boys.
"We put everything we could. We did not take any short cuts. Mumbai was the better side today. But if you look back at things we could have finished in the top two. We had two opportunities. Once against Kings XI, we messed it and then again against Mumbai Indians.
"We made that kind of mistakes and a bad game like today haunted us bad. Just wish both Mumbai and Pune, may the best team win."