Dubai: Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Eoin Morgan has admitted that he has been woefully short of runs throughout the Indian Premier League (IPL) but is confident of finding some form with the tournament hitting the business end.
In 13 matches Morgan has scored a total of 111 runs in IPL this season, with an average of a lowly 11.10. The 35-year-old’s recent batting woes have also raised concerns over his form ahead of the World Cup, where he will lead England, who will face West Indies in their opening match on Oct 23 in Dubai.
“Yeah, I am short of runs in this phase of the tournament, the whole tournament in general. I am very lucky to be in a position where I have been through stages like this in my career,’ Morgan said after his team’s six wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday.
“And I think the longer you go without contributing a significant score, the closer you are to actually contributing. And that’s coming from experience,” he added.
KKR beat SRH by six wickets, riding on young Shubman Gill’s unbeaten 57 after an impressive display by the bowlers. Morgan was all praise for the bowling group also, who restricted SRH to 115.
“Yes, the chase was tricky. I thought it was sluggish if anything. The wicket is one thing but you need to adapt to conditions bowl well, field well. We did that well, vast improvement from two days ago. We are fortunate enough that the other guys in our bowling group bowled extremely well and that allowed us to juggle things around,” Morgan added.
Adding +2️⃣ to the tally! 💪#KKRvSRH #KKR #AmiKKR #IPL2021 pic.twitter.com/q8Ke0p1wKL
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) October 3, 2021
Morgan further praised opener Shubman Gill, who made a match-winning half-century on a sluggish track and said he has shown a great amount of promise throughout.
“(Shubman) Gill was very good. To have the strength and depth to call upon an experienced campaigner like him is a luxury. He’s had a huge impact today. As a group, nearly two years ago, we thought we’d play in India. And since then we’ve just been countering that.”
𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚋𝚘𝚢 🤩
How good was @ShubmanGill tonight? 😍#KKRvSRH #KKR #AmiKKR #KorboLorboJeetbo #আমিKKR #IPL2021 pic.twitter.com/EBNQ72h1bY
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) October 3, 2021
The KKR skipper also praised veteran New Zealand cricketer Tim Southee, who set the tone for KKR’s six wicket win over SRH on Sunday. Southee has had a good impact in the absence of key players like Andre Russell, Lockie Ferguson, Pat Cummins and the others. Southee was the key to the two-time IPL champions’ resurgence. Adding that he had blended seamlessly into the side.
“Tim’s obviously had a huge impact in the side, When you miss two or three big gun players – we miss Pat, we miss Lockie, and obviously Dre (Russell) has been missing as well. His contribution with the ball in this phase has been brilliant.It’s one thing contributing throughout a campaign, but I think, when you look at actually when you need players to stand up, senior players to be able to do that. Tim has done that brilliantly,” he added.
“He’s come in seamlessly, showing a lot of experience. He’s done it for a very long time for the Blackcaps. He’s obviously one of their top-class bowlers in all formats of the game so it is great to see that in a KKR shirt.”
𝗔 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆 🙌🏽#TimSouthee #KKRvSRH #KKR #AmiKKR #IPL2021 pic.twitter.com/us0KdpTW5u
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) October 3, 2021
Morgan said having missed out a place in the play-offs last year, he has a reasonable squad to achieve that target this season. “We are focused on playing good cricket. We’ve played really really good cricket, attitude, implementation of game plan.” he signed off.
KKR are currently placed fourth with 12 points from 13 games and with a positive net run-rate will just need to win their final game to qualify for the play-offs. KKR are ahead of Punjab Kings, Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians (all on 10 points) on the points table
