David Hussey, Kolkata Knight Riders mentor has said that some of the fellow Australians in the IPL are a “bit nervous” about getting back home in the wake of a COVID-19 surge in India.
While Rajasthan Royals pacer Andrew Tye decided to leave midway from the IPL as he feared getting “locked out” of his own country, RCB bowlers Adam Zampa and Kane Richardson withdrew from the remainder of the ongoing league citing personal reasons, their franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore said on Monday.
David Hussey: Every Cricketer Is A Bit Nervous Whether They Can Return To Australia
Lead Australia pacer Pat Cummins is also part of the KKR squad. Ben Cutting who played for Australia and World XI from 2013 to 2017 in limited-overs(ODI, T20I) was also bought by KKR but hasn’t played a game yet.
“Everyone is sort of a bit nervous about whether they can get back into Australia. I dare say there will be a few other Australians a bit nervous about getting back into Australia,” David Hussey, a former Australia international, told the Sydney Morning Herald.
David Hussey praised the strict bio-bubble in place for the IPL but said it is natural for the players to be nervous about the current situation in India.
“We’re stuck in bubbles. It’s probably not too dissimilar to what all Victorians experienced last year in lockdown really. You get tested every second day. So it’s quite full-on but I think every precaution has been taken for everyone’s safety. It is on the radar. It’s on the news every minute of the day. You see people in hospital beds. It puts a lot of things in perspective. We actually discussed after the game last night, how lucky we are to play the game and try to entertain people around the world,” said David Hussey.
However, David Hussey said the players are pragmatic and want the tournament to go on.
“Everyone’s pretty nervous about what’s going on over here, but they’re also pragmatic. A couple of players, their fathers have passed away. One person in particular, he’s one of the staff members with us and his father passed away last year from COVID, and he was really pragmatic by saying it was his time to go. From a Kolkata point of view, we’re desperate for the tournament to keep going, purely because everyone’s in lockdown, there’s not much else to do,” added David Hussey.
KKR has batsmen – Karun Nair, Gurkeerat Singh, Ben Cutting, Sheldon Jackson, and Tim Seifert – warming the bench as the side-eye changes in the games to follow. From Mumbai, KKR will now fly to Ahmedabad to face Punjab Kings on Monday.
Kolkata Knight Riders To Meet Punjab Kings
Match 21 of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) will see the Punjab Kings take on the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Monday.
The Punjab Kings will head into the game on the back of a stunning win over the Mumbai Indians which saw them restrict the likes of Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav to a below-par total. PBKS captain KL Rahul then led the chase with a well-timed fifty, with Chris Gayle also finding some form in the middle. However, team balance is still an issue for the Punjab Kings, who might have to make a few changes in personnel, given the change in venue.
Nevertheless, PBKS has been decent with the ball in IPL 2021. Meanwhile, the Kolkata Knight Riders have endured a disappointing campaign in IPL 2021 so far. Although they began their season with a decent win over Sunrisers Hyderabad, the Knight Riders have since lost four games on the trot.
Their top-order consisting of Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, and Rahul Tripathi has been inconsistent, with Eoin Morgan also struggling for runs in the middle. The onus will be on Andre Russell and Dinesh Karthik to deliver the goods with the bat if KKR is to return to winning ways.
Kolkata will need the likes of Pat Cummins and possibly Lockie Ferguson to fire big time in what is a crucial game for the former IPL champions. Although the Kolkata Knight Riders will be itching to bounce back to winning ways, they will head into the game as underdogs.
Predicted Playing XIs
Punjab Kings
KL Rahul (c&wk), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda, Shahrukh Khan, Moises Henriques, Jhye Richardson, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, and Mohammed Shami
Kolkata Knight Riders
Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Andre Russell, Ben Cutting/Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy, Prasidh Krishna, Pat Cummins, and Shivam Mavi