Aakash Chopra urges KKR to stick to Pat Cummins' strengths in upcoming IPL 2021

Aakash Chopra has said that Kolkata Knight Riders must make their frontline pacer Pat Cummins make the new ball talk in the upcoming IPL 2021 that gets underway this Friday. Meanwhile, Chopra has also made that since Cummins is not a death overs specialist, it is important to utilise his skills in the initial overs.

'He is not your gun death bowler': Aakash Chopra

“He is not your gun death bowler so that admission is important, to begin with that even though we have paid him 15.5 crores and by his own admission the ball doesn’t start swinging a lot more because you have been paid that kind of sum. So his job is to just make the new ball talk, take a couple of wickets at the top and break the back of the opposition’s batting in the first six overs", said Aakash Chopra while speaking to Star Sports.

"If he is able to do that on multiple occasions, he will be fine and then use the remaining couple of overs judiciously. I don’t think you will be giving him two or three overs at the backend of a T20 innings,” the former Indian Test opener added.

Patrick Cummins who was roped in by the Kolkata-based franchise for a whopping INR 15.5 crores in IPL 2020 finished the tournament with 12 scalps from all the 14 matches that he had featured in. He also scored 146 runs at a strike rate of 128.07 including a half-century with his highest score being an unbeaten 53. KKR decided to retain him for this year's marquee tournament.

KKR in IPL 2021

The Kolkata Knight Riders have failed to make the playoffs in the previous two editions and they will be looking to break the jinx this time around in their quest to win a third IPL title. The Eoin Morgan-led side will kickstart their IPL 2021 campaign when they lock horns with the 2016 winners Sunrisers Hyderabad at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on April 11. 

(Image Courtesy: KKR/Twitter/Aakash Chopra/Facebook)