Kolkata Knight Riders coach John Buchanan feels the unavailability of Pakistani players has had an impact on his side’s fortunes in the Indian Premier League season two in which they have recorded just one win from 12 matches so far.
Buchanan, who has been criticised severely for KKR’s dismal show, said the Brendon McCullum-led team is also finding it difficult to strike a right balance in the playing eleven.
Asked whether he missed Pakistani players, Buchanan said, “I suppose the answer is yes. Umar Gul, particularly because Shoaib Akhtar played only one game last season. Again, as we are talking about the whole series, it’s always difficult to find all players that you want in the side at the one time.
“We have sat around, talked about Charl Langeveldt a number of times as well. It would always still be the same sort of question. What’s the best balance of your side, who can we actually pick to play and win the game,” he was quoted as saying in IPL’s official website.
Buchanan’s controversial ‘multiple captaincy theory’ even before the start of the event and the ‘fake IPL player’ blog later on made the KKR in the news for all the wrong reasons.
The Kolkata outfit’s worries were further compounded when it started losing match after match to take themselves out of the semifinal reckoning much before the second phase of the tournament began.
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