Brendon McCullum has backed Kolkata Knight Riders’ aggressive approach in batting despite their collapse. Notably, they got all out within 128 runs against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Had they taken a defensive approach to the game, they would have posted a better total and they might have won the game too as well.
Put into bat on a tricky surface, Kolkata Knight Riders were reduced to 44 for 3 at the PowerPlay but they maintained the aggressive approach. Both Shreyas Iyer and Sunil Narine – promoted to play the spin in the batting order took an aggressive approach and in the process they lost their own wickets too as well. However, McCullum rued their luck and how the aggressive shots cost them the wickets as well.
“I actually loved the intent to be honest, I thought the intent was great,” Brendon McCullum said after the defeat. “You back the fact that you are playing the extra better and you are playing a long batting lineup. You don’t anticipate getting bowled out obviously. Honestly I felt like we didn’t have a lot of luck today. To be honest, every time we sort of went for the aggressive option, we seemed to find a fielder or things didn’t quite go our way. So that can happen sometimes as well.”
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“But I want us to continue to keep that in the team because that’s what served this side so well last year. And I think you know the way we’ve set our team up with the auction, the players that we picked that suits them as well. Sometimes you get to go a little bit too hard. But now we know where the line is and if we can add a little bit of craft with the wickets we’re coming up against and look to use the bounce as our friend rather than our foe then I think it gives us a good chance. But not quite enough runs but I was pleased with the intent. Little bit of luck and things could have been different,” he added.
“Tonight’s wicket was a bit different,” McCullum observed. “It really did have that kind of tennis ball sort of sponge bounce to it, which made batting very difficult and particularly stroke making. Whether that continues, I’m not too sure. I guess like later in the tournament after so much use we might see it slow down somewhat, but I liked it. I thought it was good. Good contest, good spectacle and it’s not always about 200 played 195. I thought it was a thrilling game and both teams played their part in that,” Brendon McCullum again shared.
Meanwhile, KKR’s bowling did an amazing job. Umesh Yadav once again gave the breakthroughs as he struck twice in the PowerPlay to set the momentum alongside Tim Southee. However, Andre Russell injured his shoulder while fielding, forcing the captain Shreyas Iyer to bring Venkatesh Iyer for the first time in the 19th over as well.
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“Low scoring games it’s going to be sort of finite moments which determine success and failure. So I think we back all of our players in those big moments. Unfortunately it’s not always going to come off. Dre [Russell] had run around the boundary and dived and to stop that boundary for us which was fantastic. Unfortunately he just picked up a little bit of a bump, which made his shoulders a little bit sore. But Dre being Dre he still wanted to try and get the job done and he wasn’t quite able to, but look those are things which happen in low scoring games as well,” the head coach added.
“In terms of Venkatesh Iyer, he is certainly a bowling option for us and when you play that extra better, you’re trying to share your four overs between the likes of Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer and even Nitish Rana as well. But yeah, as the tournament definitely gets deeper as well, I think Venkatesh Iyer has got a huge role to play with the ball for us and certainly helps us to try and balance our side. So look for that in the games to come, no doubt,” Brendon McCullum concluded.
