Xtra Time Web Desk : Kolkata Knight Riders head coach Brendon McCullum recently opened up about Shubman Gill, stating that it was ‘disappointing’ to lose the 22 year old to Ahmedabad as the youngster joined the debutant IPL franchise as a draft pick for a sum of INR 8 crore after he was released by his former team ahead of the Mega Auction.
Talking about Gill in a KKR live session, McCullum said, “You need to plan as you’re going to lose a lot of players. It was disappointing to lose Shubman Gill. But that’s the way life is sometimes and we will be well prepared for the upcoming auction,”
Also stating about the franchise’s retentions, the former Kiwi wicketkeeper-batter added, “Sunil Narine and Andre Russell have been proven campaigners for a decade. We have all seen what Varun Chakravarthy is capable of in the last two seasons. Venkatesh Iyer was probably the story of the second half of IPL 202. Certainly not easy to find a backup for someone like Andre Russell and that’s why he is such an important re-signing. When he is at his best, he is effectively two world-class players in one. It’s really challenging to find a backup for these players. That will be the topic of our conversation. If Dre Russ is out due to injury, you could need two players, a batter and a bowler, and try to balance things out accordingly.”
Now, with the IPL Mega Auction approaching fast, it would be interesting to see what decisions does the Knight Riders team management make in terms of building a strong squad.