Former Kolkata Knight Riders player David Wiese recently called team coach Chandrakant Pandit a "militant" due to his tough style of handling the players in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Wiese, who now plies his trade for Namibia, claimed that many foreign players in the roster of KKR were frustrated by Pandit's tough style of functioning during last year's IPL.
Coach finds support in Dre Russ
However, all-rounder Andre Russell, who is one of the stalwarts in the squad, begs to differ from Wiese and backed Pandit's style of coaching.
"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.
What David Wiese said about Chandrakant Pandit
Pandit, who is known as a disciplinarian, had taken over as KKR coach ahead of IPL 2022 after Brendon McCullum accepted England's head coach job.
"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.
