Kolkata Knight Riders failed to win its third IPL title after losing to Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2021 final on Friday. However, Brendon McCullum applauded the side's incredible turnaround from the India leg and revealed the reason behind it.
Former champion Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) failed to add a third feather to its decent legacy after losing to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 final at the Dubai International Stadium on Friday. As a result, it wrapped up its incredible turnaround story this season.
KKR was lurking at the seventh spot after seven games from the India leg before turning things around and finishing fourth in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) leg and qualifying for the final. As everyone appreciated KKR's unbelievable turnaround, head coach Brendon McCullum revealed the reason behind it.
"It can be hard in a tournament such as the IPL to be able to keep your composure when results are going against you. Where we sat after seven games, with only two wins, it was pretty disappointing. So, the break came at a good time. During that time, we had some conversations right throughout the few months in between with some guys and just tried to smooth out a couple of rough edges," he said during the post-match press conference.
He also credited all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer, whose incredible opening batting skills helped KKR strengthen the top-order. "Venkatesh Iyer has been quite an incredible story. Looking back, he was actually going to play the next game when we were in India. He was actually going to be in that squad then. But, in a funny way, the break came at a good time there too. I think it gave him the opportunity just to get another couple of months of cricket under his belt to understand that his opportunities weren't too far away. And then, for him, it was a matter of just bringing the game which he owns, the Venkatesh Iyer gameplan, to the table, which is aggressive and intent," McCullum reckoned.
Speaking on the middle-order woes, he explained, "I think our bowling group did a really good job. We fielded well, and our top-order batting was superb. But unfortunately, we weren't quite able to get the real impact through our middle-order players… You know there's a lot of experience there. They're the first ones to admit they didn't have the greatest of tournaments. That can happen at times. It wasn't for a lack of trying, that's for sure. The guys certainly invested. They put the work in. It just wasn't necessarily their tournament. That was just unfortunate that it kind of happened amongst all of the middle order. But, that can happen sometimes."
KKR continued to miss explosive all-rounder Andre Russell's performance owing to a hamstring injury. "Look, Andre, he obviously had a hamstring tear earlier on in the competition. He worked unbelievably hard to try and get himself available. There was still a risk there, and it was a risk that I felt in a final, we just couldn't afford to take," McCullum clarified.
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He concluded by speaking on skipper Eoin Morgan's poor run. "It's a really unique situation, isn't it? He was captaining out of his skin. He's captained as well as what I've ever seen him captain, as well as I've seen anyone really captain in a T20 competition. I thought he was driving the team forward with his captaincy. Unfortunately, the runs weren't there for him, no matter how hard he tried. We tried to put him in that position where he's been so successful in those last five overs in T20 cricket right throughout his career. But unfortunately, it wasn't to be," he ended.