Head coach Brendon McCullum says KKR will make couple of changes in Mumbai (Image Courtesy: KKR Twitter)
Brendon McCullum with England's white ball captain Eoin Morgan (Image Courtesy: KKR Twitter)

Kolkata Knight Riders head coach Brendon McCullum said that it was disappointing to lose a talent like Shubman Gill but they will be prepared for the IPL mega auction to be held on February 12 and 13.

In a live session for KKR, McCullum spoke at length about their retentions ahead of the auction. KKR retained 4 players ahead of the auction- Andre Russell (₹12 crores), Varun Chakravarthy (₹8 crores), Venkatesh Iyer (₹8 crores) and Sunil Narine (₹6 crores). So they had to leave the likes of Dinesh Karthik, Pat Cummins, Shubman Gill and captain Eoin Morgan.

Brendon McCullum
Brendon McCullum// BCCI

“You need to plan for the auction as you’re going to lose a lot of players”- Brendon McCullum

Ahead of the mega auction, the Ahmedabad franchise, one of two new inducted IPL teams signed Shubman Gill as one of the three draft picks at the price of ₹8 crores.

“You need to plan as you’re going to lose a lot of players. It was disappointing to lose Shubman Gill. But that’s the way life is sometimes and we will be well prepared for the upcoming auction,” Brendon McCullum said.

 

Gill played for KKR in four seasons. In 58 games for the franchise, he scored 1417 runs with an average of 31.48 and a strike rate of 123 which included 10 fifties.

Speaking about the retentions, McCullum elaborated that Russell and Narine have been parts of the KKR for a long time and the way Venkatesh Iyer performed in the UAE leg of last season, it’s difficult to ignore him. Iyer scored 370 runs in 10 innings which included 4 fifties as KKR finished the campaign as runners-up.

Kolkata Knight Riders, IPL 2021
Shubman Gill[photo: Twitter]
“Sunil Narine and Andre Russell have been proven campaigners for a decade. We have all seen what Varun Chakravarthy is capable of in the last two seasons. Venkatesh Iyer was probably the story of the second half of IPL 2021,” he added.

McCullum also denied that Pat Cummins didn’t live up to the expectations of the franchise. The Australian pacer was bought with a whopping price of ₹15.5 Crores in the IPL 2020 auction

“I think Pat Cummins was a pretty good buy. While some would say he did not perform as he should have, I disagree. He was brilliant across disciplines without statistically being a really high achiever. You are prepared to go hard for guys like him,” he added.

Cummins picked 9 wickets in 7 matches with an economy of 8.83 and also played a blinder of knock 66*(34) against Chennai Super Kings in a league match.

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