Kolkata Knight Riders head coach Brendan McCullum admitted his side struggled without Andre Russell in the Premier League 2021 encounter against Punjab Kings.
In the UAE leg of the 2021 Indian Premier League, KKR have relied on Russell’s bowling a lot more, playing him as designated fifth bowler. They tasted success, too, winning two out of three games before Russell was injured.
The Knight Riders went with the extra batting option in Tim Seifert against Punjab, leaving the fifth bowler’s responsibility to Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish. A move that did not go well as the duo conceded 37 runs in 3.3 overs as Kings won in the last over.
“In terms of the balance, when you take out a world class allrounder like Russell, it’s always difficult to balance your side.
We just felt a batter short and in that circumstance we felt that we could play the extra batter. You’re always going to get the delicate balance of going either bowling strong or batting strong.“
The Riders have Shakib Al Hasan and Ben Cutting in the squad, with the Bangladesh all-rounder being more renowned. The management received some criticism for not playing Shakib in the absence of Russell. McCullum stated that they see Shakib as a top order batting option but will be in the mix, with his all-round ability.
“Shakib’s always in the mix because his skillset, his ability to bowl left-arm orthodox and also his batting – we probably see him a bit more in the top three as a batter, but that certainly doesn’t mean he can’t slot in somewhere else. So he’ll be in the mix for the next game for sure.”
With needing to win both the remaining games, KKR are set to face Sunrisers Hyderabad next in Dubai on Sunday evening.
