Cape Town: Disgusted with the seven wicket loss to Auckland Aces, Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Gautam Gambhir said that his team need to play some smart and better cricket if they want to win the next two matches in order to remain in contention at the Champions League Twenty20 tournament.

“We will have to play some smart and better cricket and hopefully win both the remaining matches. Once you get the momentum you've got to continue. You can hope to win by letting the advantage go. How they played in the first over gave them momentum,” said Gambhir at post-match presentation, adding that they need to win their next two matches at any cost.

Crediting Azhar Mahmood for the tur-around, Gambhir said Mahmood's 10th over in which he struck twice to dismiss Jacques Kallis and Manoj Tiwary made all the difference. "Azhar's first over turned the entire momentum in their favour. We lost two wickets in that particular over. The way they Auckland Aces bowled, a lot of credit should be given to them," he said.

Meanwhile Auckland Aces captain Gareth Hopkins too was in all praise for Mahmood for his superb all-round show and said the win against KKR has boosted their confidence. "The win against KKR has really boosted our confidence. Those two wickets by Mahmood helped us a lot in restricting them. We got off to a good start with the bat and Mahmood finished it off well," he said.

Meanwhile, happy with his all-round performance, man-of-the-match Azhar Mahmood said, “We bowled really well as a unit. We prepared really well two weeks before the tournament and it's paid off. Martin Guptill and Louie started off really well and I was able to finish off. Hopefully I can keep my form going.”