Kings XI Punjab skipper Adam Gilchrist maintained that the Eden Gardens wicket is a difficult one to bat on even though his Kolkata Knight Riders counterpart blamed the visiting side's loss in the IPL clash to poor batting.
Gilchrist said at the post-match presentation that the Eden pitch was difficult to bat on as it spun and also assisted the pacers when his side batted first in the match.
He stuck to his opinion at the post-match press conference.
"It's same for both teams. It was a difficult batting wicket. The wicket in Kochi was difficult as the ball was not consistent at all. But here it bounced and spun," Gilchrist said.
- Eden pitch not difficult: Gambhir
"I would not say it's a bad cricket wicket. It was just a challenging one for batsmen. Unfortunately, we were a little bit too low today," he added.
Addressing the press conference before Gilchrist, Gambhir had disagreed with the former Australia wicketkeeper, saying that the pitch was not a difficult one and KXIP lost as they did not bat well.
Gilchrist, however, conceded that KKR were the better side.
"Their spinners bowled particularly well. Gautam Gambhir summed it up very quickly by introducing spin from the fourth over. They bowled particularly well. It's a good combined bowling effort by the whole team. Their combined bowling effort stifled us getting quick wickets," he said.
"But we gifted three run-outs; that hurt us. That does not help in difficult batting matches," said Gilchrist.
The World Cup-winning former Australia wicketkeeper said nothing is lost for his side as they have eight more matches to make it count in the tournament.
Asked if it was demoralising to pick two losses on the trot, Gilchrist replied: "It's a game of cricket. We have a long way to go.
"I don't think we should get too demoralising. We should look up to do what we can be done better. We have had a long week's rest. We just need to hop back into it now. There is no use getting too down about it."
Gilchrist said it was good to see their middle order batters getting some opportunity ahead of crucial matches.
"Up to this point, it's been the top order that have got us the runs. Dinesh Karthik played well today. He got an opportunity in the middle. There is a long way to go in the tournament and I am sure the opportunities will come for the middle order to click and try and get bigger totals," he said.
Asked whether KKR looks a different unit altogether this time around, Gilchrist said, "It's a totally different team, isn't it? There is no point comparing the teams.
"Other than Chennai and Mumbai there are not much teams who retained their players. They are obviously playing well. They have got a fine leader in Gambhir, who is working well with Dav [Whatmore]. They have some class players like most franchises."
