Kolkata Knight Riders coach Brendon McCullum says that losing Shubman Gill was a disappointing experience

All 10 Indian Premier League teams, including the two new additions in Lucknow and Ahmedabad, have already secured their top picks as they gear up for the mega auction ahead of IPL 2022. Two-time IPL winners and last season’s finalists Kolkata Knight Riders decided to retain West Indies all-rounders Andre Russell and Sunil Narine along with Venkatesh Iyer and Varun Chakravarthy to form the core of the side this season.

As a result, they had to let go of young Indian opener Shubman Gill who had been a galvanizing figure in the team since IPL 2018. Gill had played 58 matches for Kolkata Knight Riders and head coach Brendon McCullum suggests that losing him was disappointing. Gill later got picked up by the newly unveiled Ahmedabad franchise for INR 8 crore.

“You need to plan as you’re going to lose a lot of players. It was disappointing to lose Shubman Gill. But that’s the way life is sometimes and we will be well prepared for the upcoming auction,” head coach Brendon McCullum said in a live session for KKR.

KKR decided to retain both their West Indies heavyweights in Andre Russell and Sunil Narine. While Dre Russ was the top pick in the INR 12 crore slot, Narine got retained for INR 6 crore. The franchise has already spent INR 42 crores ahead of the mega auction.

“Sunil Narine and Andre Russell have been proven campaigners for a decade. We have all seen what Varun Chakravarthy is capable of in the last two seasons. Venkatesh Iyer was probably the story of the second half of IPL 2021,” McCullum added.

Baz McCullum further added that the side decided to back Andre Russell despite his poor fitness record over the last couple of seasons because of his unique value as a world-class T20 all-rounder.

“Certainly not easy to find a backup for someone like Andre Russell and that’s why he is such an important re-signing. When he is at his best, he is effectively two world-class players in one. It’s really challenging to find a backup for these players. That will be the topic of our conversation. If Dre Russ is out due to injury, you could need two players, a batter and a bowler, and try to balance things out accordingly,” the KKR coach further said.