Knight Riders rally behind Morgan

Coach McCullum confident of timely boost from captain

After suffering a fivewicket loss against Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League in the UAE, Kolkata Knight Riders’ head coach Brendon McCullum says his side would definitely want some more runs from skipper Eoin Morgan against Sunrisers Hyderabad today in Dubai.

KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal played knocks of 67 and 40 respectively as Punjab defeated KKR by five wickets with three balls to spare. Shahrukh Khan also scored 22 runs off just nine balls to help Rahul’s side get over the line.

“Morgan is one of our senior players and he is one of our international batters. As captain also, in his own head he would have liked to contribute a lot more runs. Actually, I think he has captained the side really well tactically. We want some more runs from him no doubt in that, you need runs from your overseas batters. Look, I am confident that he will come right,” said McCullum.

“We played a great game, Punjab Kings deserved to win because they seized the key moments. I still felt we had a chance in the game, with two overs to go, Punjab Kings were in the score exactly we were in our innings. It was touch and go, small margins in this game and it did not go our way against Punjab.”

In the earlier match of the day, Royal Challengers Bangalore will be targetting to seal a playoff spot as they take on Punjab Kings at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

Bangalore have 14 points from 11 games and a win will put them in the third spot of the IPL table.

On the other hand, Punjab will be looking to contine their winning run after clinical victory against Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday night.