Gambhir happy with comfortable KKR chase

Gambhir had special praise for Suryakumar who made 46* off 20 balls. © BCCI

Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir was a satisfied man in the wake his team's seven-wicket win against Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2015 opener at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday. The defending champions managed to restrict MI to a below-par 168 for 3 thanks to fast bowler Morne Morkel's 2 for 18. KKR chased down the target in 18.3 overs with Gambhir (57), Manish Pandey (40), Suryakumar Yadav (46* off 20 balls) all playing important hands. For Gambhir, his team ticked all the boxes.

"I think credit should go to the entire unit. It was a tough total to chase and the way we chased, it was great. It was a very good wicket, but we never knew how it was going to behave. It was a pretty new wicket in Kolkata and the way Morne bowled, it was exceptional," Gambhir said at the post-match presentation.

Gambhir had special praise for Suryakumar whose extravagant hitting towards the end went a long way towards securing KKR their 10th consecutive win. "Suryakumar Yadav as I said during the toss, he is an important player and he showed us why it was right to make him the vice-captain today before the game," Gambhir said.

In a match where batsmen dominated the proceedings, however, the Man-of-the-Match award went to South Africa's Morkel who bowled his quota of four overs in one spell. It was his bowling that had MI under the pump in the first half of their innings. "I think with the new ball there was a little bit of swing. The rhythm helped and we did well with the ball. It is fantastic to come here and play in front of this crowd. It's great to start off with a win," Morkel said.

"It does lift me and sometimes I have to catch my breath circling around my mark [talking about the Eden Gardens crowd cheering them on]. Definitely, the crowd gives us the extra edge and the extra energy. As a bowling unit, it was good to bowl first. Our first outing as a group was great. We expected the wicket to turn a little bit more, but the way we played in the tricky bit of conditions summed up our night."

Meanwhile, MI captain Rohit Sharma, whose 98* off 65 balls helped the team reach a respectable total from 37 for 3, admitted bowling failure. "The kind of wicket it was, we were probably 10-15 runs short. We should have done better with the ball though. We didn't execute our plans well. Let's hope the guys can pick up from this and come out in a positive manner," Rohit said.

Talking about the pitch, Rohit added: "The pace was good. The wicket was very good. It is a trend in Kolkata as the pitch is always good to bat. We just have to go back and need to make a good comeback. [It] doesn't please to be on the losing side, but let's hope the guys will learn from them. Once we go back to Mumbai, we will figure things out."