Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik, and Varun Chakravarthy
Expressing concern over Kolkata Knight Riders' batting unit, former India cricketer Virender Sehwag has said that the Eoin Morgan-led side has made things 'boring' in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) edition.
Sehwag's comments come after KKR's recent defeat against Delhi Capitals where they slumped to 82/5 before Andre Russell (45*) rose to the occasion. Despite repeated failures from Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, and skipper Morgan, KKR have not made changes to their batting order so far and are currently sitting sixth on the points table with just two wins out of seven.
"I am not happy with Kolkata Knight Riders' batting order because Nitish Rana is still opening. They are not getting the starts they need to get. Shubman Gill is not in the best of forms -- he scored 40 against Delhi Capitals, but he used a lot of balls.
"But even if that is fine if he is batting along with someone who can keep increasing the team's run rate, then it would be better for KKR," Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.
"It is not digestible that they are not changing batting order. When I watch a movie on my laptop, mobile on any OTT platform, I skip forward a boring scene. In this T20 tournament, when Kolkata Knight Riders are playing, it will get boring for me, so I have to watch it while fast-forwarding it because they have made things boring for everyone," he further said.
KKR head coach Brendon McCullum also came down heavily on his team's top-order batsmen for not showing enough "intent and aggression".
"It's very, very disappointing. I think as a player, you ask to be given freedom and confidence and loyalty when it comes to selection, to go out there and take the game on and try and be aggressive... and to try and make things happen for your team," McCullum said at the post-match conference after the team slumped to its fifth defeat against the Delhi Capitals.
