"Silly mistakes & just not handling pressure as well as we should have" - Brendon McCullum reacts after KKR's thrilling loss to RR

Yuzvendra Chahal was adjudged Player of the Match for his maiden fifer in IPL [Credits: IPL]

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) head coach Brendon McCullum slammed his players for wilting under pressure and squandering a winning position. Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal took four wickets in the 17th over as the Rajasthan Royals (RR) prevailed by seven runs at the Brabourne Stadium on Monday.

Chasing a mammoth 218, it was KKR’s game to lose as they pared down the equation to 40 runs required off the final four overs. But Chahal (5 for 40) turned the match on its head, taking four wickets in six balls - including a hat-trick. Interestingly, three of those dismissals stemmed from KKR's batters trying to take the IPL Purple Cap-holder on.

Labeling that over as the turning point, McCullum stated that his proteges committed “silly mistakes” in a pressure-cooker situation.

“With four overs to go, we were firmly in the driver’s seat. Then couple of silly mistakes and just not handling pressure as well as we should have, cost us the game,” McCullum, who scored 158* for KKR in the very first IPL game, told reporters at the post-match press conference.

Venkatesh Iyer (6 off 7), who was brought down to No. 6, danced down the track off the first ball and was stumped to a googly. A well-set Shreyas Iyer (85 off 51) then went for an almighty heave, missed it altogether and was out lbw. Shivam Mavi tried to go against the spin and holed out at long-on. Pat Cummins tried to play with the turn but got an outside edge to complete the hat-trick.

With six wickets down, Brendon McCullum would have been particularly disappointed with Mavi’s shot selection.

“We were trying to hold Pat Cummins for the seamers. Chahal has had his number on a number of occasions. Mavi’s role was to try and get through that. Unfortunately, we weren’t quite able to execute what we were meant to do there, we made mistakes. And you can’t allow good players like Chahal to enter the game when there’s pressure on, he is far too good,” the former KKR captain remarked.

KKR have now lost three matches on the bounce and slipped to the sixth position with six points from seven games. RR have played a game less and climbed to second in the IPL points table with eight points under their belt.

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“I see him being an Indian player in time” – McCullum backs KKR quick to come good

Shivam Mavi (R) celebrates with Andre Russell after the back of Sanju Samson [Credits: IPL]

Earlier, after being put into bat, Jos Buttler (103 off 61) stole the show with his second hundred of the season as the Royals posted 217 for 5 – the highest aggregate in IPL 2022.

All the KKR bowlers were taken to the cleaners, except for Sunil Narine (2 for 21) and Shivam Mavi (1 for 34). The 23 year-old pacer has been in and out of the side, having played just three games thus far.

Again recalling his mode of dismissal, Brendon McCullum spoke highly of the talent Mavi possesses, claiming that he will don the Indian jersey in the years to come. He added that the Uttar Pradesh quick wasn’t fully fit at the start of the season and thus took time to get into his groove.

“Yeah, I guess it’s really difficult. You’ve got 25 players in your squad. And especially with a fresh squad, you try to find your best combinations and make sure you’ve got enough information about people early on in the tournament. Unfortunately for Mavi, he was just a little bit undercooked when he arrived to the IPL. He had a bit of an injury, which just set him back somewhat. So it took a little bit of time to get up to speed and then also get his confidence back. So look, it’s a really difficult balancing act sometimes, trying to work out your best combinations. And it’s a tough one as well in a pretty short season.

“Loyalty is super important to me, and I like to give guys more games than they are probably used to. But at the same time, you gotta find out enough about some of the other guys in the squad as well and try to set the right combinations. I thought Mavi bowled not too bad tonight. He’d be disappointed with how he got out. He’s a cricketer with an immense amount of ability and I see him being an Indian player in time. We just got to try and make sure that he can consistently bring that game to the table,” he said in response to a Sportskeeda query.

According to the IPL schedule 2022, KKR will next face table-toppers Gujarat Titans (GT) at the DY Patil Stadium on Saturday. Sanju Samson’s boys are slated to play the COVID-affected Delhi Capitals (DC) the previous evening in Pune.