Shoaib Akhtar and Murali Kartik at a city hotel prior to their departure for Hyderabad on Saturday. Picture by Gautam Bose

Hyderabad: David Hussey feels Thursday’s victory against Bangalore Royal Challengers has restored the confidence in the team’s ranks after four successive defeats in the Indian Premier League.

“I think we now have a genuine chance of reaching the semi-finals. The win has given back the confidence we lost. We’re now confident of a better show,” Hussey said at a news conference.

The allrounder, the most consistent performer in the Kolkata Knight Riders ranks, said they were not taking Deccan Chargers lightly.

“One can’t take the Chargers lightly despite their poor run so far. They have Adam Gilchrist, Herschelle Gibbs, Shahid Afridi and Scott Styris. Any one of them can win a match singlehandedly.”

Hussey said that the team had enough talent to make up for the loss of Brad Hodge. “Hodge is a fine player. His loss is big for any team. But I think Salman Butt can replace him efficiently enough,” Hussey said.

The Australian said he has been impressed by Shah Rukh Khan. “Before every match, he comes and says make your best effort and don’t bother about the result. He’s very down to earth. He’s like a friend to all of us. I don’t regret the attention he attracts. On the contrary, it takes a lot of pressure of the cricketers,” Hussey said.

It is now more or less certain that Shoaib Akhtar will have to sit out for another match. On the eve of their match against Deccan Chargers, the Knight Riders team management refused to commit on Shoaib Akhtar’s availability.

The Pakistan pacer did participate in the fielding drills and physical conditioning, but did not bowl at nets on Saturday.

“Shoaib is obviously in the 14. The final XI will be chosen tomorrow. When a team wins, the team for the next match is chosen according to the need of the situation. So we’ll take a call on him tomorrow. We’ll have to wait to see him in action,” said Laxmi Ratan Shukla.

Asked if Shoaib was fit enough to play, Shukla said: “Yeah, he practised with us today. There is no problem with his fitness.”