It was disappointing to lose Shubman Gill: McCullum

Kolkata Knight Riders head coach Brendon McCullum said it was disappointing for the franchise to lose young Indian opener Shubman Gill. The right-handed batter, who scored 1417 runs in 55 innings for Kolkata, wasn't retained by the franchise but was later picked by the new IPL team from Ahmedabad - as their third draft pick 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," said McCullum during a live session for Kolkata.

Kolkata spent INR 42 crore and have retained Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer and Varun Chakravarthy ahead of the forthcoming 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," said McCullum.

"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 former New Zealand wicketkeeper-batter, McCullum also heaped heavy praise on Australian Test captain Pat Cummins who was also released by the franchise.

"I think Pat Cummins was a pretty good buy. While some would say he did not perform as he should have, I disagree. He was brilliant across disciplines without statistically being a really high achiever. You are prepared to go hard for guys like him."