IPL 2021 As such, Brendon McCullum, the head coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). It has explained why star all-rounder Andre Russell did not play in the IPL 2021 final against Chennai Super Kings (CSK). KKR fell 27 runs short of their target of 193 against CSK in Dubai on Friday.
Andre Russell battled hard to recuperate from his hamstring strain but was still a ‘huge risk’ to play in the final, according to Brendon McCullum. He emphasized that hamstring injury rehabilitation is difficult to predict. As a result, he stated, KKR chose to remain with the same lineup that has gotten them this far in the competition.
“Yeah, look, Andre obviously had a hamstring tear early on in the competition. He worked unbelievably hard to try and get himself available. He was still at risk there. And I felt (if) it was a risk in a final, we just couldn’t afford to take.” Brendon McCullum said
“And then we had another hamstring issue with Rahul Tripathi. So look such as the nature of hamstrings that you are just never sure. Whether they are going to be fully healed or not, and it’s such a big risk,” he added
In the end, we decided to go for the guys. Who had done so well to get us into the final, and I am proud of all their achievements. It’s a shame we fell short, but we were outplayed by a very good CSK side today.” Brendon McCullum added
In a league game, Andre Russell hurt his hamstring while fielding against CSK. Shakib Al Hasan was brought in as a replacement after he missed the next few games. At the spin-friendly grounds of Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, the Bangladesh all-rounder was instrumental in KKR’s victory.
Kolkata Knight Riders
Because of the flat nature of the Dubai pitch, many commentators backed Russel’s return to the KKR eleven, even if he wasn’t entirely fit. Shakib Al Hasan returned stats of 0-33 (three overs) and scored a golden duck, thus they were probably correct.
Brendon McCullum also discussed KKR captain Eoin Morgan’s ‘unusual’ combination of outstanding captaincy and poor batting form in IPL 2021. McCullum praised Morgan for captaining the team as effectively as he has ever seen someone do, but expressed disappointment that Morgan’s contribution with the bat ‘wasn’t to be.’
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