Kolkata Knight Riders head coach Brendon McCullum was pleased with the intent which was shown by his batting unit in the sixth match of Indian Premier League 2022 against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai on Wednesday.
KKR were put in to bat by Faf du Plessis but they were skittled out for a meager score of 128 runs.
KKR batters were aggressive in their approach despite losing wickets at regular intervals. Shreyas Iyer, Andre Russell, and Sunil Narine tried to play the big shots but were dismissed early in their innings. Thus, the intent was to go hard at the RCB bowlers but the execution was not perfect.
There was some help for the spinners as Wanindu Hasaranga bowled a superb spell as he returned with impressive figures of 4-20 in his quota of four overs.
In fact, most of the KKR batters got off to starts but could not convert them into substantial scores. KKR were 44-3 after the Powerplay overs but they didn’t change their approach of going hard at the opposition despite their precarious situation.
“I actually loved the intent to be honest, I thought the intent was great,” 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.
“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.”
Meanwhile, McCullum admitted that there was a steep bounce on the pitch and it led to their downfall as they tried to play horizontal bat shots.
“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.
However, despite posting a below-par score on the board, KKR was able to show great character to push the match to the last over. KKR will next take on Punjab Kings at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Friday.
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