Senior all-rounder Andre Russell has backed Kolkata head coach Chandrakant Pandit, following former all-rounder David Wiese’s characterization of Pandit’s coaching style as “militant.” Wiese, now playing for Namibia, alleged that several foreign players within Kolkata’s lineup felt disheartened by Pandit’s rigorous approach during the previous year’s IPL season. However, Russell, a pivotal member of Kolkata’s core team, offered a contrasting perspective. According to Wiese, Pandit’s management style could have resonated better with the international players, leading to a lack of popularity in the dressing room. Pandit, known for his success at the domestic level with Madhya Pradesh, was appointed as KKR’s head coach amidst high expectations. However, despite the anticipation surrounding the team, the two-time champions struggled to maintain consistency and finished in 7th place in the points table, enduring 8 defeats in 14 matches.
“We’ve been working with him from last year. I think when you’re working with a coach for the first time, you have to make sure that you adjust to their philosophy. There have to be rules. We are professionals. So, we don’t complain,” said Russell during the pre-match press meet here. “I try to do the best for this franchise. He’s been doing an amazing job, and we’ve gotten coming back as well,” he added. Kolkata Knight Riders showed faith in Chandrakant Pandit despite their ordinary season in 2023 and retained the coach for the 2024 season. The 2-time champions also appointed Gautam Gambhir, their former captain, as the mentor of the side ahead of the new season. Kolkata also bought the likes of World Cup-winning pacer Mitchell Starc for a whopping sum of Rs 24.5 core while retaining the likes of Andre Russell and Sunil Narine.
“He (Pandit) is known in India as a very militant type of coach. He is very strict, very disciplinarian that type of stuff.
“Sometimes in franchise cricket, when you have overseas guys, who’ve played all over the world, they don’t need anyone coming and telling them how they need to behave, what they need to wear and what they need to do the whole time.
“So, that was tough,” said Wiese on the podcast ‘Hitman for Hire: A year in the life of a franchise cricketer’ recently.
