KKR coach Brendon McCullum praises Prithvi Shaw: 'That is how we want to play'

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) head coach Brendon McCullum praised Delhi Capitals (DC) batsman Prithvi Shaw, saying that is how his team wants to play in the tournament. McCullum, while talking to the press after the match, said Prithvi Shaw displayed the "perfect template" of how his team wants to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Shaw single-handedly helped his team reach closer to the target put up by KKR in the first inning. Shaw scored some mind-boggling shots to score 82 off just 41 balls with a strike rate of 200. In the process, the 21-year-old also scored the fastest half-century of the ongoing edition of IPL. 

"I am glad you asked me this. It is very disappointing, as a player you are asked to be given freedom, confidence, and loyalty when it comes to selection. To go out there and take the game on, and be aggressive to try and make things happen for your team. That's the style of play that myself and captain Eoin Morgan have asked of our players. But unfortunately, we are not getting it in abundance that we need and what we saw from Prithvi Shaw tonight was a perfect template of how we want to play," McCullum said at the post-match press conference. 

McCullum further added that Kolkata's batting line-up has failed to deliver so far in the tournament, adding "they haven't been able to put up suitable scores on the board". McCullum praised Andre Russell's batting but said that on a slow surface like Ahmedabad most of the scoring needs to be done in the powerplay when the ball is new. McCullum said that in T20 cricket players need to get over the old school mentality of taking a single right after scoring a boundary. The former New Zealand cricketer said that he has asked his players to be aggressive on the ground, which they are not doing as of yet. McCullum said that there will be some changes in the playing XI for the next match. 

KKR vs DC

KKR lost yet another game of the season as Delhi beat the Eoin Morgan-led side by 7 wickets with 21 balls to spare. It was Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan who steered Delhi's innings and helped the team reach the target comfortably. While Shaw scored an amazing 82 off 41 balls with a strike rate of 200, Dhawan hit 46 off 47 balls to anchor the chase. Chasing a low total of just 154 runs, DC batters came in and started smashing the ball from the get-go. Shimron Hetmyer and Marcus Stoinis finished the game for DC to win their fifth game of the season. 

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) suffered from yet another batting collapse last night as their top-order batsmen once again failed to put runs on the board. Apart from Shubman Gill and Andre Russell, no other batter could score big for the team as they finished the first innings with a total of just 154/6. Gill scored 38-ball 43, including 3 boundaries and 1 maximum, while Russell hit 45 off just 27 balls, including 4 sixes and 2 fours. 

(Image Credit: IPL)