Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) head coach Brendon McCullum heaped praise on Australia's star pacer Pat Cummins ahead of the KKR’s opening game against Mumbai Indians (MI) in the ongoing 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 on 23rd September 23 in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Cummins is among the best of the world-class pacers and is also a key cog in Australia's bowling line up across the formats presently. The right-arm bowler was bought by the KKR for Rs 15.50 crores and became the most expensive foreign buy ever at IPL players' auction.
KKR is set to kick off their IPL 2020 campaign on Wednesday, McCullum has described Cummins as a “key” bowler when it comes to having the ability to take early wickets while revealing this was among the reasons why the franchise picked the pacer at the IPL auction last year in December.
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McCullum said in a virtual press conference: “Indian bowling attack does lack a little bit of experience in terms of game time but they have got an incredible amount of talent as all of them can bowl more than 140 kms an hour. They work really well together as a unit.”
The coach further noted: “Really important selection in the IPL auction was of Pat Cummins. I think he is a key buy when it comes to overseas bowlers. For us, it was also about his ability to take early wickets. I am really content with the unit we have got.”
Former New Zealand captain further said of his coaching style since he was an aggressive player, “I played aggressively because that what's suits me. But the key to my coaching point is to understand each individual best game and motivate them to bring out their best.”
McCullum signed off by saying, “You need to create a nice healthy balance in a team. I will give guys confidence in the field so that they could play their best game.”
Here’s KKR squad:
Dinesh Karthik (c), Andre Russell, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Siddhesh Lad, Sunil Narine, Chris Green, Eoin Morgan, M Siddharth, Nikhil Naik, Praveen Tambe, Pat Cummins, Rahul Tripathi, Tom Banton, Varun Chakravarthy
(With ANI Inputs)
