IPL 2019 | Andre Russell's press conference achieves nothing for KKR, says Shaun Pollock
Shaun Pollock has stated that Andre Russell’s press conference to speak about the team’s atmosphere was not in a good state and is doing no good to the team. Former Australia women’s cricketer Lisa Sthalekar also agreed with Pollock, pointing out the team expects better from a senior player.
After a splendid start to the tournament, winning four of the first five matches, Kolkata Knight Riders’ season has only gone downhill, until they picked themselves up and put up a convincing display to stop Mumbai Indians’ juggernaut. Andre Russell, the only constant in all those wins, had to face the ignominy of being on the side which propelled the Caribbean all-rounder to launch an attack on KKR's decision-making process. Although Dinesh Karthik praised the all-rounder after his swash-buckling innings last night, Pollock said Russell's press conference achieves nothing for KKR.
"We get to totals we should defend. He spoke about how he's talked to the coach about his batting order, and about how, despite being among the runs, he hasn't left the room in days because he doesn't feel good about the losses,” Pollock said on Cricbuzz Live discussion.
"Just from the outside, when you sit and watch those press conferences, it's achieving nothing for your team. I firmly believe you should be careful about having an opinion. There's nothing to be gained by going to a press conference and saying that we don't have the right vibe in our side and things aren't going well outside and I'm staying in my room. What's that going to achieve from a team's perspective? If you have those complaints, go to the team manager."
Lisa Sthalekar also agreed with the former South African all-rounder, pointing out to how you come to expect different things from your senior player.
"He basically had a go at Dinesh Karthik, didn't he? the bowling options. He was very specifically saying that we had times when we could have won the game but we put on the wrong bowlers. And we have leaked runs and bowlers haven't done the job. And bowlers keep making the same mistakes,” Sthalekar said.
"Whether there's an issue between him and Dinesh Karthik and he's now kind of aired it in public ... [we don't know]. You don't want it from a senior player. You don't want it at a press conference. You'd rather have it at a team meeting."
