Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Jacque Kallis has urged his tem to improve after just managing to scrape through to the CLT20 main tournament.
"Obviously I was very pleased to qualify for the next round because that was the main objective. So, I am very pleased. But I think it was a very average performance by us."
Despite losing their final qualifier against Somerset by 11 runs, Kolkata Knight Riders still managed to make it to the 10-team main tournament as the third-highest-ranked side in the six-team qualifying round on better net run-rate.
"To be brutally honest, it was a poor performance. We fielded poorly, didn't bat well. We need to improve our performance," Kallis said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
"We are happy to qualify but still have some areas to work on. It was tight in the end," he added.
The veteran South African all-rounder picked Holland's most experienced batsman Ryan ten Doeschate for special praise. Chasing a victory target of 167, Doeschate (46) waged a lone battle to help Kolkata reach their qualification target of 153 runs.
"Ryan played an exceptional innings to get us through."
"When we lost a couple of wickets up front, we realised we didn't need to be heroes," he said.
Kallis conceded that the team did not perform too well in the match against Somerset, who also qualified for the main draw, and need to raise their game if they are to go far in the CLT20.
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