Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) head coach Brendon McCullum on Tuesday, said that star all-rounder Andre Russell’s workload would be managed by captain Dinesh Karthik and senior player Eoin Morgan on the field during matches.
Russell scored 510 runs in IPL 2019 along with 52 sixes and a strike rate above 200. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament as well. However, the Caribbean player has struggled with his fitness over the few years and hence has not bowled much in the IPL for KKR.
The KKR coach also said that Russell's ability to bowl during the death overs also gives flexibility to the Dinesh Karthik lineup.
"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 during a virtual press conference.
IPL 2020: McCullum happy to have Morgan bolster KKR's batting line-up
McCullum also welcomed fast bowler Ali Khan into the KKR setup. Khan replaced injured Harry Gurney and became the first player from the USA to feature in the cash-rich T20 league.
"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, and 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 said.
McCullum also said that he hopes Pat Cummins will be able to bowl Test match length to extract movement from the UAE pitches. Cummins was bought by KKR for INR 15.50 crores, making him the most expensive foreign buy ever in IPL history.
"First and foremost, the conditions are similar to Eden Gardens, pitches in the UAE have not been utilized 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 will be taking on Mumbai Indians in their opening match of the tournament on September 23 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
(ANI inputs)
