McCullum finally got the runs yesterday but his captaincy was poor
McCullum finally got the runs yesterday but his captaincy was poor
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But, McCullum, the leader, has been an abject failure. He failed to lift his demoralised troops yet again and a challenging chase became a cakewalk for Royal Challengers, who won with with four balls to spare.
That McCullum did not have a clue about how to stop his New Zealand teammate Ross Taylor, exposed his leadership skills. Taylor's unbeaten 81 off just 33 balls made a mockery of the chase. He smashed five sixes and seven fours.
In a way, yesterday was a fair test of McCullum's captaincy skills. In his nine earlier defeats, he had a valid reason to complain that he did not have the runs to defend. By helping put 173 runs on the board, the advantage was with him.
It did not speak highly of his leadership ability when Challengers were not in any real trouble throughout their run chase. He could not get his bowling changes right and it looked more a case of experimenting than real tact.
Ishant disappoints
One has not seen Ishant Sharma bowl so poorly. His body language was so poor that he appeared to be just going through the motions. KKR's main strike bowler was easy picking for all the Challengers batsmen.
He failed to provide the initial breakthrough as Jacques Kallis and Jesse Ryder set the platform for the chase with an opening partnership of 58. McCullum's decision to bring in Sharma to bowl the 18th over of the innings turned out to be a disaster. Challengers needed 40 off 18 balls at that stage. The Indian team's spearhead however was taken for 19 runs by Taylor and Boucher to tilt the scales. Sharma went for 40 runs in four overs while the experienced Ajit Agarkar gave away 45 in his four.
The burden of captaincy has already spoilt his season with the bat and it is surprising that McCullum has still not said he is better off without the crown of thorns.
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