Sabyasachi Bagchi: Kolkata Knight Rider’s Caribbean all rounder Carlos Brathwaite on Wednesday said he shared a mutual respect with England cricketer Ben Stokes. The big built Barbadian hit the English all rounder for four consecutive sixes of his last over to give West Indies the 2016 World T20 title at the Eden Gardens. The duo will be back for their respective franchise at the same venue as Kolkata Knight Riders take on Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League clash on Thursday.
“I think it’s more a rivalry created by the media. Obviously what happened here at the Eden is something that I guess will remain for a long time. Off the field we had a few drinks since. I respect him as a cricketer and the way his career has gone. There is always a mutual respect, not only professionally but personally. What’s happened has happened. We had battles in the past; it’s just me coming up against a class international all-rounder,” said Brathwaite talking to the media in Kolkata.
The Knight Riders are placed in a must win situation to stay in contention for a play-off s spot. The KKR management is heavily criticized for sending Andre Russell lower down the batting order. The big hitting Jamaican has been the star performer for the Kolkata outfit (highest scorer for KKR with 392 runs from 10 matches) has been wasted by sending him late.
According to Brathwaite, “It’s a management thing as both JK (Jaques Kallis) and DK (Dinesh Karthik) are the ones to decide. I don’t think we need to put a burden of expectation on him every time he goes out to bat. Because in professional sports there will be failures. I think as a team we need to find a best way to use him.”
The Knights started the tournament on a great note, winning four out of five matches but frittered away with a string of loses (five loses at a stretch).
On being asked what is going wrong, Brathwaite said, “Unfortunately we don’t play against ourselves. We would love to win every game. What we need now is to focus and win the next four matches. We had a few good days off and just want the boys to come back and do well. We all know what the team is capable of doing. We need to gain some momentum and enter into the latter half of the tournament potentially as favorites.”