XtraTime Web Desk: Brendon McCullum, the head coach of Kolkata Knight Riders have made it clear that the decisions regarding Andre Russell’s workload management will be taken by the captain Dinesh Karthik himself.
According to McCullum, Russell has the ability to bowl in the death overs and that brings flexibility to the KKR squad.
Team KKR is scheduled to face Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai Indians which is going to be KKR’s first match in this year’s Indian Premier League. The match is on 23rd September at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
“Dinesh Karthik will make this decision (workload management) in the middle, we know about Russell’s batting ability, we all know what he can do with the bat, his ability to bowl at crunch situations gives us further options, the captain and vice-captain will make this decision of how to use him during the match,” said McCullum while replying to an ANI query during a virtual press conference.
KKR roped in Ali Khan as a replacement for injured pacer Harry Gurney. With this, Khan has become the first player from the USA to feature in the cash-rich league.
Talking about Khan, McCullum said: “First and foremost, it’s great to have Ali Khan in the KKR setup, he is the first United States player to feature in the IPL, he has been successful at Trinbago Knight Riders. He deserves an opportunity to present himself in the IPL, I guess his opportunity will come deeper in this year’s IPL.”
McCullum also said that he hopes Pat Cummins will be able to bowl Test match length to extract movement from the UAE pitches. Cummins became the most expensive foreign player in the IPL as he was picked by KKR for INR 15.5 core.
“First and foremost, the conditions are similar to Eden Gardens, pitches in the UAE have not been utilised for the past few months, Cummins is the number one bowler in Test cricket so I wish he bowls at the same length he does in Test matches, he is a strong leader and he has been a part of KKR before,” said McCullum.
KKR has bolstered their lineup with the addition of England skipper Eoin Morgan, Cummins, Ali Khan, and Chris Green. The side had finished fifth in the 2019 IPL and now the Karthik-led side would be looking to go all the way.
With inputs from ANI