CHENNAI: Kolkata Knight Riders’ new captain Eoin Morgan attributed his team’s top-order batting failure for his side’s comprehensive defeat to Mumbai Indians in their IPL match. He said the batsment need to be more flexible in order “to turn things around” quickly.
After opting to bat first against Mumbai, KKR were reduced to 42 for four in the eighth over and half of their batsmen were back in the dressing room for 61 in the 11th over.
However, an 87-run unbroken stand for the sixth wicket between Morgan (39 not out) and Pat Cummins (53 not out) took them to a respectable 148 for five.
“With the batting early on, we made a few mistakes. Mumbai Indians bowled really well and proved exactly why they have been one of the form teams in the tournament so far,” said Morgan.
“From here on, there is another area of improvement that we need to make strides on. We’re just past the half-way stage in the tournament. There is no better time to turn things around,” said he added.
Morgan insisted that the KKR batting order needs to be flexible and adaptable. “Given the strength and depth we have in our batting-line, and the different skill-levels and skill-sets that we have, we have to be as adaptable as possible going forward. While playing against different opposition, there are different match-ups that we feel we can make the most of our batting line-up, and hence the continued change in the order.”
He said KKR had a smooth transition after Karthik decided to step down from captaincy to focus on his batting.
“Within a team of leaders, given that myself and Dinesh were leaders in captain and vice-captain, I think there will be a smooth transition from here. It took a lot of courage for DK and actually quite a lot of selflessness to come forward and recognise within himself that he wanted to focus on his batting and take the vice captaincy up,” said Morgan.
“Therefore, I became captain and it is a great opportunity for me to lead the team. Like I said, within our group of players, we have a number of leaders and we will need throughout this competition,” he added.