Former New Zealand fast bowler and Mumbai Indians player, Mitchell McClenaghan, has expressed support for Kolkata Knight Riders for their slow performance last night. McClenaghan’s comments came in response to a tweet from a fan discussing KKR’s approach during their recent loss against Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
Following the defeat, the two-time champions have lost their unbeaten streak in the league. Currently, Rajasthan Royals hold the top spot on the table as the only team to have won all four of their league matches.
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Despite boasting one of the most powerful and aggressive batting line-ups, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) struggled to counter and challenge the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) bowling attack.
The troubles for KKR’s batsmen began right from the first over of the match. CSK’s Ravindra Jadeja made an immediate impact by dismissing English opener Phil Salt for a golden duck with his very first ball.
Next, batsman Angkrish Raghuvanshi joined forces with Sunil Narine, forming a partnership of 56 runs. However, Raghuvanshi departed after contributing 24 runs off 18 balls.
As the innings progressed, KKR managed to score runs, but they lost wickets consistently. What was particularly surprising was that none of their batsmen could even reach a score of 40 runs in the entire match.
KKR’s performance in their match against CSK seemed a far cry from their previous game, where they set a target of over 270 runs against Delhi Capitals.
The pitch they played on against CSK was slow, typical of surfaces where the ball doesn’t come onto the bat easily. Despite this, none of the KKR batsmen, including captain Shreyas Iyer, seemed willing to spend time at the crease and build their innings patiently.
Mitchell McClenaghan, a regular on Cricbuzz’s post-match show during IPL 2024, responded to a fan’s comments about Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) batsmen not playing selfishly.
The fan suggested that if any of the Knight Riders’ batsmen had played slowly and selfishly, the team could have easily reached a score of 160 or more. They mentioned that someone should have taken their time and scored 70 runs off 50 balls.
“KKR is full of big hitters and no one played for their milestone today. Still, I can’t understand why they scored just 137 today. A selfish 70(50) might have taken KKR to 160+ btw.” – the fan Tweeted.
In response, Mitchell McClenaghan quoted the fan’s remark and disagreed, stating that Kolkata’s strategy has been effective thus far and there’s no need for selfish play. He replied:
“Sometimes you shoot for the stars and land on the moon. No biggie – their formula has worked so far no need to become selfish.”
Check out the conversation:
Sometimes you shoot for the stars and land on the moon. No biggie – their formula has worked so far no need to become selfish https://t.co/cf7bGcNufv
— Mitchell McClenaghan (@Mitch_Savage) April 8, 2024
