The non-availability of Pat Cummins and Eoin Morgan is an opportunity for Shubman Gill and Nitish Rana to show their leadership skills feels Kolkata Knight Riders head coach Brendon McCullum.
Speaking to Sports Today on their YouTube channel, McCullum said that it would be tough on KKR if they miss out on the services of cool customers like Cummins and Morgan but at the same time this would be a good oppurtunity for the rest of the contingent to step up to the mantle.
“They might not be ready for the responsibility just yet, but if we don't have the leaders there, then unfortunately someone’s got to step in and fill that void.”
Taking the names of Gill and Rana, he said that those players will have to drag the rest of the team along and hope that they can make it to the playoffs.
“They maybe have to play beyond their years and beyond their experience”
McCullum agrees with people to a certain degree when they say that KKR have underperformed despite having quality players in their line-up during the first part of the Indian Premier League. However, the head coach felt that the team was breaking the shackles and shaving their insecurities just as the tournament came to a halt.
Bringing up the context of their outing in 2014, McCullum said that he was looking forward to being at the pointy head of the market. He stated that just like 2014, the unit could potentially have done the unthinkable by winning the required number of games to qualify for the playoffs and then winning the ultimate prize.
As things stand, KKR reel in the bottom half of the points table with just four points to their name from seven games. With IPL potentially restarting around 19 September, it is possible that KKR might miss out on key overseas players like captain Eoin Morgan and their most expensive recruit Pat Cummins.