The 13th edition of IPL is only 13 days away to start. The Indian Premier League is the world’s biggest T-20 league. Like the other teams, two times title holder Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) is spending the last few days before the tournament doing some real hardcore training. Right now all the Indian players have reached UAE and after finishing the quarantine, they are busy in the nets. Coaches are also there. The main coach Brendon McCullum will join the team in the next few days.
Regarding the other foreign players, the majority of them will join probably next week. For example, the monster Andre Russell along with Sunil Narine will join KKR after the CPL finishes. The most expensive player in this year’s IPL, Pat Cummins alongside Eoin Morgan and Tom Banton will join the team after the England-Australia series ends on 16th September. Lockie Ferguson has already reached in UAE. But right now he is enjoying his quarantine.
Recently Pat Cummins has made a crazy statement, that is “Not concerned about Covid-19, soon joining KKR”. That means the heat of the IPL is real. Every player all over the world is very much excited for this season’s IPL.
“In terms of the mental challenge over here, for sure, it is a long tour and when you add the IPL, you probably go on, especially without seeing your families,” Cummins said in a virtual press conference on Saturday. “The important thing is you have to be prepared and come up with a game plan to manage yourself,” he added.
The Aussie pacer is very much satisfied after hearing about the safety and precautionary measures for the players and staff of the team. “In terms of safety, I have got no worries at all, hearing about the length that they have gone to protect the tournament, the players, staff, it is huge. Here in England too, no stones have been left unturned, we feel really safe and I am sure that it is going to be the same in the UAE as well from whatever I have heard,” Cummins said.
“I know it is going to be a bit different from what an IPL normally feels like, but I hope the cricket is the same,” added the Kolkata Knight Riders pacer further.
Apart from that, former KKR player as well as former Australian Chinaman bowler Brad Hogg has predicted that KKR will finish in the third position in this year’s IPL.
Speaking in the latest episode of ‘Hogg’s Vlog’ on his official Youtube channel, Hogg said: “What is the one flaw in this team? There is only one – the relationship between Andre Russell and Dinesh Karthik. We can’t have Andre Russell come out in the media after the game and say we didn’t make the right decisions. That’s got to be done behind closed doors.”
According to Hogg, Brendon will have to manage the tension between the two players. “Brendon McCullum has to make sure he rectifies that relationship, gets on top of it early, because, if there is a little bit of disharmony in this line-up, it can have a ripple effect in a bio-secure environment, and things can get out of hand very quickly,” Hogg said.
The current KKR captain Dinesh Karthik claimed in July that he had a conversation with Russell. He also ensured that he had resolved all issues with him.
“He wasn’t happy with me, he wasn’t happy that the team wasn’t winning, that is the bottom line. Whatever he said, I completely respected it. He was a little apologetic as well. At the end of the day, I have a great relationship with him. What if I didn’t have a great relationship with him, it could have spiralled into something nasty,” Karthik had said on The RK Show on YouTube.
“Because, he can open the batting, bat in the middle overs, also play some big shots at the end to finish off the innings. Also, they have got Andre Russell, who can bowl a little bit of medium pace. But that batting at the end is pure firepower. There is no boundary too big for him,” Hogg said.
“The standout player of the team is going to be Tom Banton from England. He is going to lead the way, he is going to be the leading run-scorer for the Kolkata Knight Riders. He is going to be the top three best batsmen in the IPL this year.”
“I think, Kolkata Knight Riders will finish third. They may take out the IPL title during the final series,” Hogg signed off.
Let all the stories choose their own paths. The main thing is IPL will be staged and like the other seven teams KKR is also ready to bag the title for the third time and DK is pretty confident with this year’s KKR squad. He has mentioned several times that this year’s squad is much more balanced than the previous year. The stage is set and only 13 days are left to bring the stage on fire.
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