“It is frustrating for him and he is working hard in the nets and trying to get his spot back and that’ll certainly be a consideration,” McCullum said. “In a short tournament, you’ve got to be prepared to use some other guys in the squad and that’s what we had to unfortunately do with Venkatesh but he’s certainly not out of the reckoning in the games to come. He is a real talent and has a good head on his shoulders. I know he is determined to take that next step and start to perform more regularly.”

“We’ve struggled in the powerplay, which has been a bit of a frustration for us right throughout the season,” McCullum said. “We’ve been good throughout the middle phase, not too bad at the death, but the powerplay, we’ve been a little stuck. We’ve got to find a method to not lose too many wickets [in the powerplay] and throw a few punches and pick up a few boundaries because at the moment we are sort of stuck in between and opposition teams are taking advantage of that.

“If you look around at the other teams who sit towards the top of the table, one of their opening batsmen is also one of the highest run scorers. It’s an area where we haven’t been able to settle and unfortunately some guys haven’t been in the form that they would have liked as well. So we’re just searching for a little bit of form and sometimes in a quick tournament you do often have to change personnel. It’s been frustrating but the guys are certainly working hard and I can’t fault the effort.”

Venkatesh’s second suit has also not been come to his aid, having bowled all of three overs at an economy over 12. But McCullum put that down to his not getting too many chances.

“Unfortunately, Venky and (Nitish) Rana, who we’ve underutilised a little bit, they haven’t had enough opportunity to bowl and have just missed the execution (in the chances they have got). That can affect one’s confidence when they are not able to get into a game and settle into a game.”