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As Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) look to bounce back from their narrow 16-run loss against Punjab Kings, their spin bowling coach, Carl Crowe spoke on return of Abhishek Nayar to team's coaching set-up, saying that he "speaks incredibly well about the game and has great connection with players".
Currently, KKR is placed at number six in the points table halfway through their campaign, with three wins and four losses. Their previous match was a shambolic loss to Punjab Kings (PBKS) in which they were skittled out for 95 runs while chasing a target of 112 runs. Their next clash on Monday will be against a table-topping Gujarat Titans (GT) on Monday at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. As KKR struggles, Nayar, part of the 2024 title-winning KKR coaching set-up, returned to the team after being removed as the Indian team's assistant coach. Speaking about Abhishek's return, Carl said, "Abhishek has been around the franchise for a long time. He is very popular member of the coaching staff and the players certainly appreciate what he offers. We were champions last year and he was a crucial part of that." "He (Abhishek) speaks incredibly well about the game, has a great connection and relation with the players. We are delighted to have him back at KKR and it is going to be a big plus to have him on our side," he was quoted by KKR press release. Ahead of the match, the spin bowling coach shared, "It is important not to get too high or too low with wins or losses. If you look at that game (against PBKS), we bowled incredibly well and restricted them to 112, and halfway through our innings, we were still well on top. So, for us, it is important to remain consistent in terms of our approach and stay positive in terms of our mindset." Looking forward to the game and analysing the importance of his spinners in the KKR team, Crowe stated, "Spin is clearly going to be a big part as it always is at the Eden Gardens. We are happy with the spinners we have got. They work incredibly hard, you can see it in their economy rate, strike rate and wickets taken." "They have consistently done well for us and are a key part of the team we have put together. They have bowled throughout different stages of the game, and the captain has used them well throughout the competition", he added. Squads: Kolkata Knight Riders Squad: Quinton de Kock(w), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Anrich Nortje, Varun Chakaravarthy, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Luvnith Sisodia, Chetan Sakariya, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Spencer Johnson, Mayank Markande, Anukul Roy, Rovman Powell, Moeen Ali, Manish Pandey Gujarat Titans Squad: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Jos Buttler(w), Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Ishant Sharma, Sherfane Rutherford, Jayant Yadav, Dasun Shanaka, Washington Sundar, Mahipal Lomror, Karim Janat, Kulwant Khejroliya, Anuj Rawat, Gerald Coetzee, Manav Suthar, Kumar Kushagra, Gurnoor Brar, Nishant Sindhu. (ANI).
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