Ashish is a bowler whose bowling would have been quite effective on the Mohali track, which was helping the new-ball bowlers,' Gambhir added. Nehra was ruled out of the match due to an injury.
The skipper, who cracked a brilliant 54-ball 72, made special mentions of pacemen Pradeep Sangwan and Yo Mahesh.
'Bowlers have done their jobs today. Sangwan and Mahesh chipped in with good performance. We could have bowled them (Punjab) out for 120 or so. But overall its a good team performance,' he said.
Asked about opener Virender Sehwag's cheap dismissal, Gambhir said: 'Sehwag is a brilliant batsman. If he would have batted for six overs, he would have won much early.'
'Sehwag and (Tillakaratne) Dilshan are those rare cricketers who have the ability to win the matches single handedly,' Gambhir said.
'I am satisfied with my performance and performance of the side also,' he added. Gambhir also congratulated Rajasthan Royals all-rounder Yusuf Pathan for cracking a blistering 37-ball 100 against Mumbai Indians in other match of the day in Mumbai.
'I congratulate Yousuf, he has a lot of talent and he deserve this. He can hit the ball really big.'
Meanwhile, Kings XI Punjab skipper Kumar Sangakkara rued that they did not have enough total on the board to defend. We did not have enough runs on the board,' he said.
'But the bowlers brought us back into the game. I am hopeful of better show in the coming matches,' he added.
