'Dhoni has his reasons for not making Ashwin bowl his full quota'

Kolkata Knight Riders assistant coach Simon Katich feels that a hughly seasoned captain like Mahendra Singh Dhoni must have had his reasons for not giving full quota of overs to his premier spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in most of the recent IPL matches.

"Obviously, MS has his reasons. He's an highly experienced successful captain.

"And, that's the hard thing about T20 from the captain's point of view," Katich told reporters on the sidelines of KKR training session, ahead of their Saturday's clash against Rising Pune Supergiants.

Ashwin has not bowled his quota of four overs in 10 of his last 20 Twenty20 games that included five games for Rising Pune Supergiants in the ongoing IPL as opinions have been divided.

"There are certain moments of the game where you have to go one way or the other. If it goes per plan, the captain looks like a genius. But if it does not his tactics get questioned. 

"It's never easy. I think whether it's based on form, the gut feel or the actual conditions, there's obviously a reason. MS went on that path without doubt for a reason. I guess he's the man to answer and not me..." 

Having slipped to third place after their loss to Gujarat Lions, KKR have to win a minimum two matches from their remaining four matches so as to make the playoff and Katich said they're not taking it easy as they had lost out on a last-four berth narrowly in 2015.

"It's been a topsy-turvy tournament for a lot of teams point of view. Gujarat Lions got off to a flying start and went on to lose three matches on the trot, certainly a number of other teams, have also struggled. We lost our last game but have a couple of successive home games now.

"Hopefully, we turn it around and take some positive momentum into a possible playoff campaign. There's still a lot of work to go. We don't assume that it's given after what happened last year.

"We want to make sure that we don't leave the job till the last game. I thinks it's going to be a tight tournament as we see the points table at the moment. The next four games are vital to make sure we finish in a good position." 

The Eden wicket is not helping spinners as it used to be earlier but Katich refused to complain and backed his spinners.

"Certainly, it has not spun square on this wicket. But it's been a good cricket wicket, especially the quickies have got swing. The batsmen have all enjoyed batting on it, can't complain about the wicket."

• Coverage: IPL 9