Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) chinaman spinner Kuldeep Yadav has said that he had a strong feeling that their side would win the Indian Premier League ( IPL) last year. KKR had failed to reach the playoffs last season after having done so in 2018.

The Dinesh Karthik-led side could only accumulate 12 points from 14 games and finished fifth in the points table.

The left-arm unorthodox spinner further said that he was even sure in 2018 that KKR would win the crown as they were playing some great cricket. KKR reached the playoffs of the 2018 edition, only to see themselves losing in the eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

“I had a strong feeling last year that we would win. Even in 2018, we were playing great cricket and I was sure we would win the title. I remember the match we lost against Sunrisers Hyderabad (in qualifier 2). I was out of the ground because my spell was over. They were on 125 and I thought they would not go beyond 145. But Rashid Khan came into the middle and changed the game. We were just one step away from entering the final,” the official website of KKR quoted Kuldeep as saying.

“It was a heart-breaking moment when we lost the match. If we can strike a good combination, we can certainly win it this year. After all, it`s cricket, we will win sooner or later,” he added.

KKR would be gunning for their third IPL crown after having finished as the champions in 2012 and 2014 under their former skipper Gautam Gambhir.

IPL 2020 will be played in the UAE from September 19-November 10 across three venues – Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah. The cricket carnival was shifted to the UAE owing to a surging number of COVID-19 cases in India.