KKR coach McCullum finds Prithvi Shaw’s intent worth emulating

Kolkata Knight Riders KKR head coach Brendon McCullum was hugely disappointed with the KKR batsmenrsquosapproach during their sevenwicket loss to Delhi Capitals DC in Ahmedabad onThursdayMcCullum now wants the KKR batsmen to play with the same intent as DCrsquos Prithvi ShawPut in to bat KKR managed to post 1546 in the allotted 20 overs In the first six overs they scored 45 and lost opener Nitish Rana 15 in 12 balls Later Andre Russell 45 not out in 27 and Shubman Gill 38ball 43 helped the team cross the 150mark For DC leftarm spinner Axar Patel and offspinner Lalit Yadav claimed two wickets apieceWhile chasing the target Shawrsquos attacking innings of 82 which came in just 41 balls 11x4 3x6 made it a onesided affair Shawrsquos opening partner Shikhar Dhawan who played a supporting role onThursday scored 46 off 47 balls and secured the win with 21 balls to sparePrithvi ShawldquoWhat we saw from PrithvitonightThursday was a perfect template of how we want to play Yoursquore not always going to be able to hit every ball for four or six but you can have the intent to do so particularly when yoursquore given a free licencerdquo McCullum said at the postmatch virtual press conference on Thursday nightldquoItrsquos very very disappointing I think as a player you ask to be given freedom and confidence and loyalty when it comes to selection to go out there and take the game on and try and be aggressive and to try and make things happen for your teamrdquo remarked McCullum who registered the IPLrsquos first centurymdash an unbeaten 158 off just 73 balls for KKR versus Royal Challengers Bangalore at Bangalore in 2008Shaw dominated the innings right from the first over bowled by pacer Shivam Mavi in which he struck six successive fours for KKR to be on the back foot The first delivery was a wideldquoI donrsquot think the match was lost in the first over but it was a huge psychological blow from Prithvi I have a lot of respect for him because not too many people play the game with that sort of approach He is a rare talent and he put us under an immense amount of pressure early onrdquo McCullum added