When you take out Russell, it's always difficult to balance your side: Brendon McCullum

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) head coach Brendon McCullum said that it is difficult to balance the side without Andre Russell, who is out injured. KKR went in with just frontline bowlers and a part-time bowler in Venkatesh Iyer, which backfired and ultimately, KKR suffered a five-wicket loss against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Dubai.

KKR have the all-round option of Shakib Al Hasan and Australia's Ben Cutting to fill in for Russell, but they chose Tim Seifert over them against PBKS. "When you take out Russell, it's always difficult to balance your side. We got home in Sharjah but we felt a batter short. We felt if we are able to play the extra batter, we can utilise the bowling of Venkatesh Iyer and Rana, who is a very cagey bowler," McCullum said at the post-match virtual press conference.

"When you take one of your big players out, who happens to be an allrounder, you always have that delicate balance to try and balance your side. You have to either go with your batting strong or bowling strong. In hindsight, when we got 160-odd, it would have been nice to have another bowler," he added.

Another worrisome matter for KKR is the form of their captain Eoin Morgan. He has scored just 109 runs from 11 innings at a strike-rate of 100.92. McCullum has however backed Eoin Morgan to come good. "He's one of our senior players. He's one of our international batters and in his own head he would have loved to contribute more runs," McCullum said. 

"I think he's captained the side really well. But look, you want some more runs from him there's no doubt in there. You need runs from your overseas players and you particularly need in those key spots as well. I am confident he will come alright. Some guys are really going well."

KKR have accumulated 10 points from 12 matches so far and need to win their last two games to have a chance to make it to the playoffs.