‘We are good enough to be in the semi-finals,' says McCullum after KKR’s 4th straight defeat

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) suffered their fourth consecutive loss as they were beaten by the table-toppers Gujarat Titans (GT) by a margin of eight runs on April 23. Despite starting their IPL 2022 campaign with three wins from the first four games, KKR are currently at the seventh spot in the points table because of this dramatic turnaround. 

However, the KKR head coach Brendon McCullum has backed his team to make a grand comeback in quick time. The former New Zealand captain has said that their hope of qualifying for the playoffs is still alive, and they would work on every possible aspect of their game in order to achieve that objective. 

“We still believe we are good enough to be in the semi-finals and be there at the thick end of the competition”, McCullum said at the post-match press conference after KKR lost to GT. “We’ll just keep working hard, and hopefully things will work out”, he further added. 

To note, KKR fell short of the target of 157 by just nine runs as they finished their innings at 148-8 at the end of 20 overs. Despite reeling at 34-4 at one stage, the Kolkata-based franchise made a solid comeback into the match by virtue of the valuable knocks from Rinku Singh (35 off 28) and Andre Russell (48 off 25). McCullum emphasized on this positive aspect of their batting unit and applauded the batters for their fightback. He also admitted to being satisfied with the collective batting efforts of the KKR batters in the mega event so far and asked them to carry this confidence forward into the upcoming games. 

“From where we were 34-4, it was a really good effort to rebuild and explode with Andre Russell at the end. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite enough. The confidence with the batting unit should stay relatively high, and if we can get across the line in one of these tight games, it's gonna do wonders for us", McCullum said. 

"We got 210 in our last game [against RR] and 175 batting first in the other [against SRH]. I think our batters have been predominantly very good, keeping in mind that it’s not necessarily just our top-order, your batting group is top seven or eight batters as a collective. Overall, we have been batting pretty well", the 40-year-old further added.

When enquired about Russell’s introduction to bowl only the 20th over, the Kiwi star said that they have an extraordinary depth in the bowling department making the Jamaican all-rounder their sixth bowling option. He also praised the Caribbean's valiant efforts in the last over, which restricted GT to 156 and argued that the West Indies all-rounder would’ve been adjudged the ‘Man of the Match’ had KKR won the game. 

“The way our bowling line-up is set up, we have got three outstanding seamers and two world-class spinners, so he’s [Russell] our sixth bowling option. He's very much there when we need him, and with the last over, he was called upon and did a fantastic job. I thought the way he batted today as well was simply superb. Another eight or nine runs and he probably would have been the Man-of-the-Match, but that's just how the game goes sometimes", the KKR head coach concluded.