By Jacques Kallis
What a memorable night – one of the
best of my career. The atmosphere was electric throughout and the match was a fitting climax to another excellent tournament.
The greatest consolation for the Superkings is that they did not ‘lose’ the match by performing poorly or making bad decisions. They rose to the occasion, as we always knew they would, and played superb cricket. But on the day KKR were very marginally better. That’s just the way it goes. There has to be a winner and a loser in this game.
Injury to Lakshmi Balaji forced a late change to our line-up and resulted in Brendon McCullum being benched which was horrible for him. But he took it in his stride and immediately threw all his weight and encouragement behind Manvider Bisla which was typical of his ‘team first’ mentality and of the team spirit we have created.
In the months and years to come it won’t matter who played in the final, even to those who missed out. The memories will be of the tournament and the games we played to get to the final. Everyone will have their winners medal and that is what matters.
How ironic that I wrote before the final about the depth of our squad and not being dependent on two or three big stars. Well, our brightest two stars – Gambhir and Narine – both had forgettable nights from an individual perspective and it was left to an underrated, ‘lesser’ star to dominate.
From the moment I joined Bisla in the middle I could sense that he was buzzing with adrenalin. Sometimes the big occasion can become intimidating but he was obviously not intimidated. I just told him to keep it simple and not be tepted to change his game because it was the final. It was important to stay with him for a while so that he did not have the pressure of worrying about wickets.
It hasn’t been my best IPL with the bat but I have made some useful runs at important times and I’m thrilled to have come good in the final.
Towards the end of your career it becomes easier to soak up the all the positive energy in the atmosphere and channel it towards achieving your goal. As a young player I would often sit in the changing room after a big match and think “what happened?” But on Sunday night I lived every moment.
I’m excited about having some time off now to recharge the batteries before the tour of England and our defence of the Basil d’Oliveira Test trophy.
But before that I intend to play some golf and raise a toast (or two) to Shah Rukh Khan, all my team mates and all of the hundreds of people who work so hard behind the scenes at KKR and never receive the recognition they deserve. Cheers!
