With four wins out of five matches, the Kolkata Knight Riders rule the roost on the VIVO IPL 2016 points table. On the road currently, they have won three away matches on the bounce, and will now take on Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium. KKR’s only loss came against this very team, at home. Captain, Gautam Gambhir, believes his team’s current form will bode well for them as they lock horns with the defending champions once again.

“One bad game does not define us,” Gambhir said of the defeat that was inflicted upon them by Rohit Sharma’s unbeaten 84-run knock. “And you need to give credit to the opposition as well. Rohit Sharma is a quality player and he was the one who took the game away from us. “If one of the top three batsmen bats through the innings, most often than not, the team will end up winning. And that is what Rohit did. We will try and plan something for him because he is the best player in their line-up. “We have come a long way too since that game, winning three matches on the trot away from home. We are in pretty good form as a team and hopefully we can continue that tomorrow as well,” Gambhir said. KKR’s last victory came against Rising Pune Supergiants when they chased down 160. That chase was set up by Suryakumar Yadav, with a 49-ball 60 batting at No. 3. While Gambhir praised Yadav for his contribution up the order, he said it was a decision forced by the unavailability of Manish Pandey, who is down with chicken pox. “It was a forced change because Manish wasn’t available. Otherwise Surya would have batted in the lower middle-order and finished the game for us. Surya is so versatile that he gives us the option of batting him in various positions. He did well up the order in the last game and we will continue to see how he goes about it tomorrow. But ideally I would want him to finish games because that is where I think he can be very dangerous.” The KKR skipper also extolled his main bowling weapon, Sunil Narine, who has come back after remodelling his action. Gambhir said the spinner has handled the pressure well and that his best in this IPL season is yet to come. “I am very happy with the way Sunil Narine has come back. He has shown a lot of character. The toughest thing for a bowler is to remodel his action and come back in a format like T20, where he knows batsmen will go after him straight away. He knows that people will target him and look to put pressure on him. The way he has handled himself in the last few days is unbelievable. He is mentally very strong and will only get better. We will definitely see the best of Sunil Narine in the coming games.” Sitting at the top of the points table, KKR have been one of the more consistent teams in the IPL in the last few years. When asked what sets them apart from the other teams, Gambhir said it was the feeling of security that players are given by the team management that frees them up to express themselves.

“I have always believed in giving a lot of security to the players. In today’s world that is rife with insecurities in any profession, it helps if you give that feeling of security to someone. We, as a franchise, don’t chop and change too much. If someone hasn’t performed in one season, we don’t go and release them. We have shown a lot of trust in our domestic players as well. We encourage them to go out there and be themselves and allow them to make mistakes. That, I believe, is one thing that separates us from many other teams,” Gambhir said.