Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders batting mainstay Manish Pandey today backed out-of-form batsman Yusuf Pathan to come good in the next matches as they aim to seal a play-off berth in the IPL T20 cricket tournament.
Pathan's lean patch may be hurting KKR as they have suffered two losses in a row and Pandey said the team is waiting for him to come up with a match-winning performance.
"We all know Yusuf is a match-winner. He has won many matches for KKR. It happens sometimes that many of your batsmen do not get going. We also are waiting for him to come out with a big knock and win the match for us, like he always does," Pandey said at a promotional event here.
Yusuf has been quiet so far and looked out of sorts in the last two matches where he scored 4 and 12 as KKR lost to Hyderabad and Pune in successive matches.
"It's about playing really well on the given day. We are just focusing on our basics to win the remaining games from here," Pandey said.
KKR still occupy the second place with 14 points from 11 matches and Pandey hopes they can still finish in top-two.
"We will play every game like the way we started the tournament. It's about doing well in the departments we have been doing well. We have been consistent for four years. We are just one win away from qualifying so our focus as of now is only that."
On the mood in the camp, Pandey said: "Obviously there are not many happy faces after losing two games in a row. But it's part of the game. We have discussed this in the team meeting also.
"We had some plans which obviously did not work for us. But if you see our performance as a whole, we have been doing well.
"It's just a matter of posting one win and qualify. We are looking forward to that. I'm pretty sure we are going to do that and finish in top-two."
