NEW DELHI: Kolkata Knight Riders are having a nightmare in IPL 2026 and are still searching for answers after slumping to their fifth defeat of the season. They sit at the bottom with a single point which came from a rain-hit match against Punjab Kings. The 2024 champions faltered across departments – batting, bowling and fielding – and the frustration was visible in skipper Ajinkya Rahane and his teammates in the dugout.Amid the slump, former England batsman Kevin Pietersen made a bold call and predicted a major coaching shake-up. He suggested that KKR could turn to their former coach Brendon McCullum next season.
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Bombay Sport Exchange: Munaf Patel on Gautam Gambhir, Virat vs Bumrah and Indian bowling. “Baz McCullum will be the coach of KKR next season. Bookmark this tweet,” Pietersen said.KKR have already overhauled their coaching setup ahead of IPL 2026 and appointed Abhishek Nayar as the head coach in place of Chandrakant Pandit, but the move has not yielded any results so far. McCullum, meanwhile, currently serves as England head coach and is under contract until the 2027 World Cup.McCullum has had a long association with KKR, playing for them from 2008-2010 and again from 2012-2013. He later returned as head coach from 2020 to 2022 and led the franchise to the 2021 IPL final.KKR’s performances this season are reflected in the standings. They are yet to win a game, losing five of six games, with one scoreless, and hold a net run of -1.149. Their defeats came against Mumbai Indians (6 wickets), Sunrisers Hyderabad (65 wickets), Lucknow Super Giants (3 wickets), Chennai Super Kings (32 wickets) and Gujarat Titans (5 wickets), painting a bleak picture of their campaign so far.
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Bombay Sport Exchange: Munaf Patel on Gautam Gambhir, Virat vs Bumrah and Indian bowling. What did Rahane say?KKR captain Rahane admitted it was another demoralizing defeat but decided to focus on the positives.“It’s never easy to come out and talk straight after losing a match. But I’d like to focus on the positives. The way we started, we lost three wickets early, it was tough,” Rahane said after the five-wicket loss.“Cameron Green’s innings was excellent, he was under pressure but the way he counter-attacked and beat their bowlers was amazing. At 147 for 4, it was a bit difficult for us as a batting unit to get to 180,” he added.“I still want to thank our pitchers. It’s not easy when things don’t go your way, but they kept coming back and pushing hard.”
