IPL 2019: Can't hide there was tension within KKR, says Simon Katich

With players and coaching staff coming up with contradictory statements throughout the season, there were indications that all was not well inside the Kolkata Knight Riders dressing room.

Simon Katich: "There's no doubt that throughout this campaign, the dynamic within our group has certainly changed."

As Kolkata Knight Riders bowed out of the Indian Premier League on Sunday, the team's assistant coach, Simon Katich, admitted that there was 'tension' in the camp.

With players and coaching staff coming up with contradictory statements throughout the season, there were indications that all was not well inside the dressing room. "Can't hide from the fact that there was tension," Katich said at the post-match interaction.

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"That was pretty evident from the last few games after we got on a bit of a roll with losses. We've got to address that as a group. What is so important in the IPL is the dynamics of the group and I guess the unity. That's something that KKR is very very proud of.

"It's a very successful franchise and it's something that everyone involved has worked very very hard to contribute to over a long period of time. That's something we have to certainly work to get better at because there's no doubt that throughout this campaign, the dynamic within our group has certainly changed."

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Missed opportunities

KKR came into its last league match against the Mumbai Indians with a chance of making it to the playoffs but the Dinesh Karthik-led side lost steam, thanks to Mumbai's well-knit pace attack.

"Today (Sunday) is obviously disappointing but it's a tough ask coming to Mumbai, we don't obviously have great record here [It was KKR's sixth straight defeat at Wankhede]. Yes, it would have been great to win and get through but to finish where we did is probably what we deserved given how our season went."

Despite a bright start to the tournament — winning four out of five matches — the team fell short. "It fell away badly through that middle phase of the tournament," Katich noted.

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"If you look back at our season, the two missed opportunities we had were in the matches against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals. We hadn't played well through the season but to lose those two games was always going to come back and hurt us in the end.

"That's what probably catches up with you, when you don't win at home, where that wicket suits our style of play, particularly our batsmen, given how flat it's been," the former Australia cricketers said.