Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], April 2 : After a couple of games away from home, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the defending champions of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be back at their home ground when they take on the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), in a repeat of last year's final, at the Eden Gardens on Thursday.
Ahead of the crucial game, KKR team mentor Dwayne Bravo expressed confidence in the team's ability and said there are so many match-winners.
"There are so many match-winners in the team and there will be occasions when Rinku will win games by himself, and Russell will games by himself. Ramandeep can also contribute to the team, and even Venkatesh Iyer will come into his own and will also win a couple of games by himself," Dwayne Bravo said, according to KKR press release.
"So, for me as a mentor and the coaching staff, we continue to remind these guys how great they are already. You don't expect any player to be consistent for fourteen games in the IPL but it's important to keep encouraging them and reminding them of how great they are," the coach added.
The former West Indian player brushed away concerns about KKR's batting.
"Batting is not a main concern. We're not the only team to be in this position after three matches but we're working on being smarter in certain situations. Once we get that right, we will be fine. We bat fairly deep, like most teams in the IPL. It's just the key moments that we're letting ourselves down as a batting group", he said.
"These guys are quality players, so I just know it's a matter of time before they get their confidence back. And once that happens, eventually you start to win again", the former player concluded.
Kolkata Knight Riders will play back-to-back home games at the Eden Gardens against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 3 and Lucknow Super Giants on April 8.