Defeat hurts. Defeat at home hurts more. And it becomes painful when the margin of defeat is as big as 55 runs in the short T20 format.

By Kashinath Bhattacharjee

Without Chris Gayle and David Hussey, Kolkata is surely weak in batting department. When these two comes, batting will be stronger. But will the balance be maintained?

Only four foreigners are eligible to play in the first XI. So, if Gayle, Hussey and Brendon McCullum play, there will only be one place left for a foreign bowler. Will not the team lose its finesse in bowling then? Will it be wise to leave out the 750,000 dollars Bond from the first XI? Or, will it be fair to have Angelo Mathews out of the team?

Lots of areas to be concerned about. But Sourav Ganguly is not going to miss his sleep over it. "Let them come first. We have lost just a match and we all played really badly except the first 12-14 overs. This is a long tournament and there are 11 more matches to be played. Anything can happen."

Since the fifth bowler combination of Brad Hodge, Rohan Gavaskar and Sourav himself, costed 37 runs in their combined four overs in the second match, Sourav played with five specialist bowlers this time. But the match was still won by an extraordinary innings from the current India captain MS Dhoni.

"MS played really well and he took the game from us in the last four overs. Why don't you give credit to MS first? Our bowlers tried their best but MS played a very important innings. This happens in T20 where an innings can make huge difference."

MS, too, praised Dada's captaincy. "Everybody knows how good a captain he is. He has been a great captain, the most successful captain of the country. When you are around Captain Ganguly, you want to learn a few tricks, always. It's an opportunity."

But Sourav, too, made a tactical mistake or two. First, dropping Cheteswar Pujara for Rohan Gavaskar and then, the crucial one, under-bowling Brad Hodge. The Aussie was given just an over where he had conceded four runs and got one wicket. Did not he deserve more? "Probably. May be he could have a couple of overs more," Sourav agreed.

One of his trump cars, Shane Bond, played his debut match at Eden and wicketless. For Sourav, though, "This was his first game and he bowled quite well except the last few deliveries. But then, he has just come and he needs time too."

There is no doubt about the fact that the batsmen had lost the game for Kolkata. Sourav, too, was not happy with their efforts. "We took too many risks, early in the innings. That was not according to the demands of the situation. We should have played with more responsibility. However, that can happen. That's what T20 is all about."

The most important thing is, there are 11 matches left. And Sourav is not losing hope. "We started the tournament well. The format is such, it's impossible to win every match. So, defeats will be there. But every match is a new opening and we have to come back hard, that's what is required most."