IPL 2021: McCullum hints at squad overhaul

Kolkata Knight Riders head coach Brendon McCullum on Sunday said his side will make a few changes for their upcoming IPL matches in Mumbai and hoped a change in personnel and venue will revive their campaign.

KKR lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore by 38 runs -- their second defeat in the ongoing edition -- to slip to sixth place in the standings.

"We will probably need fresh legs, expect to make a couple of changes and there will also be a change in venue with Mumbai," McCullum said at the virtual post-match press conference.

KKR have, so far, played their matches in Chennai. "... New place but we have just tidy up some of the areas and we can bounce back in the next couple of games," the former New Zealand captain added.

The bowling change blunder

KKR skipper Eoin Morgan's decision to take out spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who dismissed Virat Kohli and Rajat Patidar in the match's second over, was baffling.

McCullum admitted it was wrong on their part to take Chakravarthy out of the bowling attack after that excellent over.

"In hindsight, we would have bowled him then. It was wrong on our part to remove him after that over. Our main aim was to keep him for De Villiers but the plan backfired," McCullum said.

The De Villiers factor

Batting first, De Villiers' master class and Glenn Maxwell's counter-attacking half-century propelled RCB to an imposing 204 for four.

In reply, KKR were stopped at 166 for eight as RCB regained the top spot in the pecking order.

Asked about the South African star batsman, McCullum said, "It appears he has come this year with a fresh approach, he is clearly looking very confident, he took the game away from us. This is what world class players do, they put so much pressure on the opposition. "It was quite a sizeable boundary on one side and quite shorter on other but some tremendous batting from both AB and Maxwell, they took the pitch out of question and put us under pressure. We had to be perfect with our execution, but unfortunately, it wasn't."

Asked about all-rounder Sunil Narine's status, the legendary Kiwi said, "Sunil has had a bit of an injury issue, he wasn't 100 per cent fit, was touch and go for today's game, and we opted for Shakib as he has done so well for us, he also gives us that extra bit in batting."

With inputs from PTI