Kolkata Knight Riders head coach Brendon McCullum was not pleased about the fact that the franchise lost the upcoming talented batter in Shubman Gill ahead of the 2022 season of the Indian Premier League. The original eight IPL teams had the option of retaining four players from their squad.
KKR opted to retain Andre Russell (₹12 crores), Varun Chakravarthy (₹8 crores), Venkatesh Iyer (₹8 crores), and Sunil Narine (₹6 crores) ahead of the mega auction and were forced to release players like Shubman, Pat Cummins, Eoin Morgan, and Dinesh Karthik.
The two new IPL teams had the luxury to select three players amongst the non retained lot. Hence, Shubman Gill was grabbed by the Ahmedabad franchise as he was chosen as the third draft pick for the new team that will make their debut next season.
Ahead of the mega auction, coach Brendon McCullum expressed his disappointment about losing Gill. McCullum also said that KKR will be prepared for the upcoming mega IPL auction which will take place on February 12 and 13.
“You need to plan as you’re going to lose a lot of players. It was disappointing to lose Shubman Gill. But that’s the way life is sometimes and we will be well prepared for the upcoming auction,” McCullum said on a live session for KKR.
Brendon McCullum defends Pat Cummins’ performance in the IPL for KKR
Brendon McCullum also defended Australia pacer Pat Cummins who faced scrutiny for his below-par performance in the past couple of seasons. Cummins was signed by KKR for a record amount of INR 15.5 crore. However, the franchise released him ahead of the 2022 mega auction.
“I think Pat Cummins was a pretty good buy. While some would say he did not perform as he should have, I disagree. He was brilliant across disciplines without statistically being a really high achiever. You are prepared to go hard for guys like him,” said the former New Zealand captain.
Talking about KKR’s retentions, Brendon gave a brief about what he thinks of all four players.
“Sunil Narine and Andre Russell have been proven campaigners for a decade. We have all seen what Varun Chakravarthy is capable of in the last two seasons. Venkatesh Iyer was probably the story of the second half of IPL 2021,” said McCullum.
Highlights:
• Brendon McCullum expressed disappointment over losing Gill ahead of the IPL Auction.
• McCullum defends Pat Cummins’ below-par performance in the IPL.
