KKR head coach Brendon McCullum said in a virtual press conference about how he feels about working with franchise skipper Shreyas Iyer while he also confirmed that Southee will not be part of the squad for the opening game.
The Indian Premier League will kick off on Saturday evening and the opening game will be played between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium. Ahead of the opening game, there has been some chipping ad changing as CSK appointed Ravindra Jadeja after MS Dhoni’s resignation.
As the opening game nearer, the KKR head coach Brendon McCullum also talk about how he feels about working with skipper Shreyas Iyer.
“Really, excited. I have admired Shreyas from far. I have met him when he was playing for Delhi Capitals and I was playing for Gujarat Lions. We exchanged numbers and I gave him my number, but he never called me? I asked him why didn’t call me, he said I was too intimidated. I said what? Now he is here captaining the franchise, he is a star in Indian cricket. He is well respected throughout the world for what he has achieved. He has the potential to be a superstar of the game,”
said McCullum while replying to an NDTV query during a virtual press conference.
“He has got a nice presence and a warming presence about him and he is certainly willing to learn. We have something in common and that is how we want to play the game. Excited to work with Shreyas, he could be the franchise player for KKR for a decade,”
he stated further.
In the last edition of the IPL, KKR couldn’t win the title and suffered a loss from the Chennai Super Kings in the final. In the IPL mega auction, KKR picked up the Shreyas Iyer for Rs 12.25 crore, and then he was named as KKR skipper.
“Everyone saw the style of cricket we played last season, that’s how we like to see the game played. That’s how Shreyas likes to lead and that’s how I like to coach. It is about giving the guys freedom to take the game on. Our message is a simple one, work with your teammates, enjoy your time, and with the bat if you feel you are in a situation where you can dominate, do that,”
said McCullum.
During the press conference, McCullum also confirmed that Southee will miss the opening game for KKR.
“Tim Southee is not available for the first game. There is some delay in his arrival in India so we will look at the Indian talent.”
KKR Squad: Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Varun Chakravarthy, Nitish Rana, Pat Cummins, Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Mavi, Sheldon Jackson, Ajinkya Rahane, Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy, Rasikh Dar, Baba Indrajith, Chamika Karunaratne, Abhijeet Tomar, Pratham Singh, Ashok Sharma, Sam Billings, Alex Hales, Tim Southee, Ramesh Kumar, Mohammad Nabi, Umesh Yadav, Aman Khan.