(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Punjab have had a fabulous season and they deserve to be in the final.
it is still possible to enjoy a series or a tournament if you are losing – but it is impossible to have a miserable time if you are winning! this has been a fantastic ipl for kolkata and a great time to be involved.
when we won the tournament two years ago it was a highlight of my career and i made a special effort to see everything around me to hear the crowd and appreciate their enthusiasm.
as a young player you often miss the magic of the moment in the afterglow of victory but i was determined to absorb it all wondering whether i’d ever experience the unique atmosphere of an ipl final again. and now here i am again just two tournaments later.
it seems like a long time ago that i was writing about the frustration of losing games rather than the opposition taking credit for beating us. and yet in other ways the tournament seems to have flashed by.
although i’m surprised at the relative ease with which we finished in second place after losing five of the first seven games i’m genuinely not surprised that we’ve had a good tournament. as i said from week one i believe kkr has one of the best balanced squads in the whole tournament. for most teams there is a second chance after 12 13 or even 14 matches — there is another game to correct the mistakes of the last game. but that luxury is gone now which is why it is so important to relax and enjoy the occasion.
anything can happen on the day but bad things are more likely to happen to the team which is tense. the team which recognises the big moments and plays them best will be victorious on the day.
punjab have had a fabulous season and they deserve to be in the final. they have many ‘big game’ players who appear to enjoy being in the spotlight. the franchise hasn’t had much success in the ipl so far and no doubt there will be a host of people behind the scenes anxiously nervously hoping they do well.
the players will have to make sure that tension doesn’t rub off on them.
as for the hundreds of loyal dedicated and hard working people behind kkr you also deserve to have this day — and to enjoy it!
thank you to every one of you for another brilliantly organised campaign. it’s been fun and we’ve been winning. i’m not sure which of those comes first but they are a great combination. — gameplan/ hawkeye
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