Dinesh Karthik was all praise for his Kolkata Knight Riders captain Eoin Morgan, calling him an “absolute champion as a leader” after the two-time champions made an inspiring turnaround in the IPL 2021.
Kolkata Knight Riders were placed seventh in the points table at the end of the Indian leg of the tournament with just two wins from their seven games. However, they came roaring back in the competition and made it to the finals, where they lost to Chennai Super Kings.
Given his poor form with the bat, not many gave Morgan credit for KKR’s revival. But Karthik made it a point to highlight his skipper’s contribution on and off the field.
Karthik said Morgan was right in not giving up the captaincy and avoiding dropping himself on poor form:
“He (Morgan) took the right decision, he decided to play because as a player, he plays two roles- one is his batting and one is his captaincy. Definitely one of the main reasons why we (KKR) were able to reach the finals, you’ve got to give some credit to him.”
Karthik said on Cricbuzz Live.
Morgan headed into the T20 World Cup 2021 after making only 47 runs across 17 innings at a strike-rate of 95.68 last Premier League season. For England also, since January 2021, Morgan has made just 89 runs over eight innings in T20Is with a strike-rate of 118.66.
But despite the diminishing returns, the left-hander has been influential for KKR and England, said Karthik, who even likened Morgan’s ability to “absorb pressure” with that of the legendary MS Dhoni during his India captaincy days.
“He is a great leader, a lovely guy and every player in that England team respects him. If for India there is MS Dhoni, for England it’s Eoin Morgan,”
added Karthik in a huge compliment.
Morgan’s England made a winning start to the T20 World Cup on Saturday, beating defending champions West Indies by six wickets in Dubai after bundling them out for just 55.
