Eoin Morgan participated in the virtual media conference from his room in the same hotel but quarantined, but CEO of Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) Venky Mysore said on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi all players from England and Australia will be available for their opener against Mumbai Indians (MI). That could mean the overseas quartet of KKR comprising Morgan, Pat Cummins, Andre Russell, and Sunil Narine.
KKR lost 19 of their 25 MI matches, and skipper Dinesh Karthik told it was nice to play the defending champions early on. “Karthik also said he hoped that KKR would get a lot of chances to” celebrate, “adding that at the time of physical distance,” we can’t be too robotic about it.
We are all in a bubble, and we should give a little bit of leeway. Hopefully, very often, it happens.
Shubman Gill and Narine never opened up together, but KKR is likely to start with a new pair with Chris Lynn joining defending champions MI. “Narine’s uncomplicated batting style makes it easy for us. And Shubman is a pistol.
It’s a very special pair of openers,’ said Karthik, who seated with coach Brendon McCullum and Mysore on Tuesday for the Zoom call.
In the recently concluded Caribbean Premier League for Trinbago Knight Riders, Narine played five games, missing seven; his absence was due to the knee problem and removal of kidney stones.
He hit two fifties, however, and took six wickets, and a KKR official said he was available.
McCullum also did not rule out starting Cummins — Mysore said their quarantine would going to end on Tuesday — saying that the wickets for the first few matches could feel like the pacer-friendly strips of KKR’s home Eden Gardens “since they seem to have a new tinge on them.
“Fast bowlers operating in and around that length of the test match has done well, and Pat Cummins is one of the best test bowlers in the world,” said the new coach of KKR.
“Under the lights, the wickets seem to be quickening a little, and the ball certainly swung around,” said MI quick Trent Boult.
KKR has yet to call Russell bowling, but Vice-Captain Morgan said he would try to “ape” the power-hitting backend of the Jamaican.
“As a batsman, in the past three-four years, my game has come on quite a lot,” said the winning captain of England’s World Cup, who played for KKR from 2011-14. Being slotted for the death overs by Morgan and Russell may mean Karthik batting higher.
In terms of our total, we were a few runs short … if we can tighten up with accuracy and execution on a few small areas and that’s what we’re going to aim to do in the next couple of games,” Boult said reacting to the five-wicket loss to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Saturday.
