IPL 2020: 'Andre Russell is best suited to bat in the last ten overs,' says KKR Head Coach Brendon McCullum
There has been a lot of discussion regarding the position of Andre Russell in KKR’s batting order. Head coach Brendon McCullum has now cleared the air saying the Jamaican is best suited to bat in the last ten overs of a T20 game.
However, McCullum did not rule out the possibility of Andre Russell batting higher up the order if the situation demands it. He believes in the horses for courses approach to win games.
“Russell hit 54 [he hit 52] sixes last season. He came out of the telephone box on so many occasions. His game is definitely suited to probably the last ten overs of a T20 game where he can really control it. But there may be times where match-ups are right and we can enter Andre earlier up the order, but that will be a 'horses for courses' type of approach. The good thing is we've got a lot of resources to choose from,” McCullum said in a media interaction.
Russell had opened up last year about the frustration of batting lower down and getting very few deliveries to face. KKR’s mentor David Hussey had also suggested last month that he could bat as high as no.3 during this season, but the head coach has different plans.
Eoin Morgan provides a perfect foil in the middle-order for Andre Russell’s six-hitting ability: McCullum
Brendon McCullum believes that Eoin Morgan’s addition in the middle order provides a perfect foil to the big-hitting ability of Andre Russell. The England limited-overs skipper will act as a bridge between the top-order and the finishers in the batting order.
“Eoin Morgan, from our point of view, was a fantastic get at the IPL auction because we wanted to provide a little bit of resource around Russell's six-hitting ability. He was a guy we were desperate to get and him batting in the middle order around Andre Russell and around Dinesh Karthik provides us with a really, really strong middle order,” McCullum said.
The 38-year-old also said that the leadership traits which Morgan brings to the table will be invaluable to the Knight Riders set-up.
“We also probably wanted to a bit of leadership around the skipper Dinesh Karthik, and Morgan has obviously won the ODI World Cup for England and he's been a standout leader in world cricket,” he added.
Kolkata Knight Riders will kick-off their IPL 2020 campaign on 23rd September against Mumbai Indians in Abu Dhabi.
Check out the IPL schedule here