With Kolkata Knight Riders’ latest and third consecutive defeat in IPL 2021 against Chennai Super Kings, scrutiny has intensified around Eoin Morgan’s captaincy. The team has not been performing well this season, especially with the form of batting unity. Amidst this, facing scrutiny once again is Skipper Eoin Morgan.
Previously, former KKR player and captain, Gautam Gambhir has criticised Morgan for not giving Varun Chakravarty another over during the game against Royal Challengers Bangalore. He had gone on to say that this was the weirdest kind of captaincy that he has ever seen. Now, Gambhir’s former teammate, Virender Sehwag has chimed in on scrutinising the KKR skipper. Sehwag told Cricbuzz that Morgan is not the best T20 captain in the world.
“I don’t think Eoin Morgan is the best T20 captain in the world. Yes, in ODI cricket, he has a really strong team. Whoever bats well wins the game for him. Whoever bowls well, wins the game for England. But in IPL – he does not have that team, and I also don’t think he is that good a captain of T20 cricket.”
The former Indian batsman further insisted that comparing Morgan with Dhoni would not be correct. Sehwag feels that Morgan’s skills as a captain are not on display in IPL 2021 as he does not have that good a team that he has for England. Morgan has enjoyed a lot of success while leading England in white-ball cricket including the World Cup in 2019.
Sehwag doesn’t want KKR to retain Morgan next season
As the captain is only as good as his team, this will only work if and when Morgan builds a great team maybe next year, or if his players start performing extraordinarily. Even if two players start scoring runs, or two bowlers start picking wickets, then this will be a good team. And they will start winning matches. At this moment, Sehwag does not feel Eoin Morgan is that good a T20 captain.
When asked whether KKR should retain Eoin Morgan as their captain before the next IPL mega-auction, Virender Sehwag explicitly said that the English skipper isn’t worth Rs 12-15 crores. Elaborating he added that Morgan was not brought on board for his skills as a captain. Morgan took over the responsibility after Dinesh Karthik stepped down midway through IPL 2020.