Kolkata Knight Riders captain Shreyas Iyer revealed coach Brendon McCullum and even the CEO Venky Mysore are the ones making most of the team decisions in the ongoing IPL 2022.
KKR haven’t had a great campaign in IPL 2022, having lost seven matches while winning only five. They’re placed seventh on the points table and have a very slim chance of making it to the playoffs. The management has played musical chairs with its players, fielding 20 players across the season, which reflects the lack of clarity and instability.
The Knight Riders won their last game against Mumbai Indians quite comprehensively but they had made five changes to the playing XI. In the post-match interview, Iyer said it is hard to convey to the players that they are benched. He revealed that even CEO Venky Mysore is involved in the important decisions in the team.
Speaking on a CricTracker show, Former India cricketers Nikhil Chopra and Wasim Jaffer discussed the same. Chopra feels Shreyas Iyer is perhaps not happy with the way McCullum is operating. He added that the captain should be at the helm of decision-making.
“Only the captain is at the helm of every decision. If KKR doesn’t qualify, will McCulum lose his place or will they remove Iyer as captain? I think this statement has come due to the fact that think Iyer was not happy with the coach’s decisions,”
said Chopra
Jaffer said that it is important for the captain and coach to gel together well and be on the same page for the team. If not, the differences keep growing and the management becomes a mess.
“Whether it’s the national team or the IPL, the captain and coach need to be on the same page, otherwise the differences keep growing. Shreyas expressed displeasure over the decision made by the coach, which shows everything is not controlled by him. Obviously, owners and CEOs are involved in the team selections,”
he said.
This is not the first time Kolkata Knight Riders management and a player have had issues. From Sourav Ganguly saga in 2008 to Dinesh Karthik and Andre Russell being unhappy in 2019, KKR have been involved in power dynamic rifts.
