At the end of the first half of the IPL 2021, Kolkata had just two wins out of seven matches and were placed seventh. But in the second half of the tournament in the UAE, they made a sensational turnaround, winning five out of their remaining league matches, resulting in reaching the playoffs. From there, they won the eliminator followed by the second qualifier and then reached the final in Dubai, where they lost to eventual champions Chennai Super Kings by 27 runs.
"We rocked in to the second half of the tournament, we were kind of dead and buried (after starting two wins and five losses). We were under a fair amount of pressure with two wins from seven games and seventh on the table out of eight. The expectations on us were pretty low," remarked McCullum, who won the IPL 2012 title with Kolkata as a player.
