You’re not going to win too many 40 to 6 games: McCullum
When Kolkata Knight Riders fell to 14 for 4 against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Abu Dhabi, head coach Brendon McCullum dived deep into his diary; writing notes and wondering if his pregame talk had any impact on the batters’ mindset. As Mohammed Siraj raged, all KKR could handle was 84 before falling to a loss of eight wickets.
With four games remaining, McCullum has a lot of trouble. Batting hasn’t worked, injury concerns persist for both Andre Russell and Sunil Narine, and bowling was missing teeth, too. But before the game, McCullum had made it a point to ask hitters to show some intention; especially at the top of the order. However, at the end of it all, he was left scratching his head in what the coach described as a “shy performance.”
Shubman Gill has scored at a strike rate of 111.82 so far this season, while Rahul Tripathi has watched the sea after his game-winning performance against Chennai Super Kings. Nitish Rana is averaging just 18 on the season and has struggled to counter conditions. With the first lands, KKR has not been able to use the muscle of its middle order correctly. Against RCB, the team simply succumbed to the persistent assault without a fight.
“Before the game, we talked about showing some intention, especially at the top of the order, and unfortunately we lacked that tonight,” McCullum said. “So that’s something we have to address. We were very poor bat in hand. You’re not going to win too many 40-6 games.
“We are still fourth in the tournament, which is very fortunate for us. Fate is still in our hands. We have to put order in some areas. It’s just that we were very timid in our approach. That’s a bit frustrating because we talked extensively. before the game about trying to be positive and showing strong intention. If you’re defending 84, you win one out of 150 games. Tonight wasn’t good enough from a hitting standpoint. “
McCullum acknowledged that he expected RCB pacemakers to hit KKR hitters hard. However, he didn’t expect them to have answers. “RCB pitched very well. Siraj pitched excellent lines and lengths. He was able to introduce the stitching and ask our hitters some questions. Questions that, in the past, we would have answered better than we did tonight,” he said. outside.
“We have to recover because we have a game in a few days. That will be the nature of the tournament also with the challenging conditions. We have to find a way to choose ourselves and find results when it is challenging.”
“We had planned to get hit with their seamers. Here in Abu Dhabi, it has been very useful for the seamers. If you invest it, [Aaron] Finch was trying to walk over to the bowlers and trying to ask some questions. Sometimes that’s what you have to do. You have to be creative to get into the game. We have to find a way to get into the game and you can’t just be in a situation we were in and hope to win. I don’t think we could get into the game at any point. None of our first-order hitters could get going. “
With four games to go, the onus will fall on the hitters to resurrect their season. And many things must be fixed in the three days before they face the capitals of Delhi in the same place where they have been mutilated three times.
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