MUMBAI: Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) Assistant Coach Simon Katich has admitted that ‘tension prevailed and dynamics within the team changed’ during the KKR’s six-match consecutive defeats.
The former Australian cricketer said that the team needs to work as a unit to resolve the issue.
“Can’t hide from the fact that there was tension,” Katich said at the press conference here on Sunday.
“That was pretty evident from the last few games after we got on a bit of a roll with losses. We’ve got to address that as a group. What is so important in the IPL is the dynamic if the group and I guess the unity. That’s something that KKR is very very proud of. It’s a very successful franchise and it’s something that everyone involved has worked very very hard to contribute to over a long period of time, ” he added.
He also urged his team to resolve the issue.
“That’s something we have to certainly work at to get better at it because there’s no doubt that throughout this campaign, the dynamic within our group has certainly changed,” the former Australian left-hand batsman said.
On Sunday, in a bid to make it to the playoffs, KKR had to register a win against Mumbai Indians. But, Lasith Malinga, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah restricted them to 133/7 in 20 overs, helping Mumbai secure a nine wickets win.
“It did go wrong, that’s for sure,” Katich admitted. “Today is obviously disappointing but it’s a tough ask coming to Mumbai, we don’t obviously have great record here [It was KKR’s sixth consecutive loss at Wankhede]. Yes, it would have been great to win today and get through to the playoffs but to finish where we did is probably what we deserved given how our season went,” he added.
KKR started well, as they registered four wins in their initial 5 matches. The Assistant Coach accepted that they had lost the momentum through the middle part of the league.
“We had a very good start but it fell away badly through that middle phase of the tournament,” he said.
“If you look back on our season, the two missed opportunities we had were in the matches against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals. We hadn’t played well through the season but to lose those two games was always going to come back and hurt us in the end,” he further added.
Earlier, KKR Andre Russell had expressed his disappointment over his batting position.
KKR finished the 12th edition of the IPL on the fifth position in eight teams tournament. KKR got 12 points from 14 matches. On the other hand, Mumbai Indians, with the virtue of this win, topped the table.
(AGENCIES)
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