A livid Kolkata Knight Riders coach Brendon McCullum seems unimpressed with his team’s top-order batsmen for not showing enough “intent and aggression” in the ongoing IPL 2021. McCullum didn’t name anyone but their young opener, Shubman Gill is among those who have looked completely out of sorts as he has scored 132 runs at an average of less than 19 and a strike rate of below 120. McCullum also added that after their fifth loss in this season, the team will “have to make some changes for sure.”
During the post-match presentation, Brendon McCullum said, “I think as a player, you ask to be given freedom and confidence and loyalty when it comes to selection, to go out there and take the game on and try and be aggressive… and to try and make things happen for your team. That’s the style of play which both myself and the captain (Eoin Morgan) have asked of our players. But unfortunately, we’re not quite getting that.”
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A target of 154 was like a walk in eth park for DC as Prithvi Shaw smashed six boundaries in the opening over from Shivam Mavi. His 82 off 41 balls sealed the issue.
Talking about Shaw, McCullum said, “What we saw from Prithvi Shaw tonight was the perfect template of how we want to play. You’re not always going to be able to hit every ball for four or six, but you can have the intent to do so, particularly when you’re given a free license. It’s very difficult if you don’t play shots to score runs, and unfortunately tonight we didn’t play enough shots.”
Brendon McCullum also seems irritated with the slow surfaces, which makes the powerplay overs way more important as it becomes harder to up the ante during middle and back-end overs.
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The KKR coach said, “Look, on a slow surface you’ve really got to maximize the new ball and the fielding restrictions. If you get a boundary, then look for another, and then look for another one. It’s incredibly disappointing because I’ve asked time and time again for us to be more aggressive and more expressive and take the game on, and we continue to not do it. So we’re going to have to make some changes for sure.”
