"Message is that we will continue to play our shots" - Brendon McCullum outlines KKR's approach for IPL 2022
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) head coach Brendon McCullum has asserted that his side will continue to play an aggressive brand of cricket in the ongoing IPL season. His comments came after the side's convincing win against Mumbai Indians (MI) on Wednesday.
Chasing 162 runs, Kolkata were struggling at 101/5 with all their notable batters back in the hut. In walked Pat Cummins at No. 7, who took the game away from Rohit Sharma and co. in a jiffy. He smacked the joint-fastest half-century in IPL history of just 14 balls to take KKR over the line with 24 balls to spare.
Brendon McCullum highlighted that this is the brand of cricket they are looking to play in the competition this season. Speaking in a video shared by KKR, the former Kiwi captain said:
"The subliminal message that it sends to the opposition is that we will continue to play our shots. We will continue to try and take you on. We have total and utter belief in that style of play."
McCullum went on to add:
"It's not always going to work, there are going to be times when we are going to be challenged doing it. But if we do that and we invest in it and we communicate when we are out here and bounce off one another, and it's going to make us really diffiuclt [to play against]."
McCullum praised opener Venkatesh Iyer, who scored a half-century, and Cummins for their efforts against MI:
"Venky, your innings today when Pat [Cummins] was out there with you, was very, very intelligent. You were able to hold up an end for him and allow Pat to play his natural game. That's the kind of bouncing off one another we require."
While Pat Cummins did all the hitting, Iyer did the important job of anchoring the innings on one end. He batted throughout the chase, remaining unbeaten on 50 off 41 balls. The southpaw has been short of runs in the tournament and this innings will give him some much-required confidence for the games to follow.
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"That is unbelievable" - KKR head coach Brendon McCullum on Pat Cummins
Pat Cummins played a blistering knock against Mumbai that left everyone stunned, including the KKR head coach. Brendon McCullum lauded Cummins for smashing the ball around in a manner akin to West Indian all-rounder Andre Russell:
"We used to seeing Dre Russ [Andre Russell] do that, we have seen you do it a couple of times. But mate, that is unbelievable. 56 not out of 15 balls!"
With this victory, Kolkata now have six points in their kitty in four games and have moved to the top of the IPL 2022 points table.