‘No sportsperson is a robot that continually performs’ – Kevin Pietersen

Kolkata Knight Riders have had a splendid run in the second half of the tournament. The team secured victory in two consecutive matches and promoted themselves to the fourth position of the points table. However, skipper Eoin Morgan’s form has been a tad bit of a concern for KKR. Morgan has been experiencing a dip in form in the UAE leg of the IPL. In the games in the second half of the tournament so far, the captain has not managed to reach the double figures. The former England skipper Kevin Pietersen has thus opened up on the KKR skipper’s form.

A fan asked Pietersen about his views on the current form of Morgan. Replying to the fan, the former cricketer tweeted: “It happens. No sportsperson is a robot that continually performs. People need to cut athletes some slack.”

Eoin Morgan has captained the side really well tactically: Brendon McCullum

In the previous game against Punjab Kings, KKR put up a competitive target of 166 onboard but couldn’t defend it. Venkatesh Iyer and Rahul Tripathi starred with the bat for the team. Morgan on the other hand yet again was unable to make an impact as he departed with just two runs to his account.

KKR’s head coach Brendon McCullum heaped praises on Morgan’s captaincy and pinned his hopes on the batter to chip in runs. He also added that the team had a fair chance to triumph against PBKS as they were well within the game with two overs to go.

“Morgan is one of our senior players and he is one of our international batters. As captain also, in his own head he would have liked to contribute a lot more runs. Actually, I think he has captained the side really well tactically. We want some more runs from him no doubt in that, you need runs from your overseas batters. Look, I am confident that he will come right,” said McCullum in a post-match press conference.

“We played a great game, Punjab Kings deserved to win because they seized the key moments. I still felt we had a chance in the game, with two overs to go, Punjab Kings were in the score exactly we were in our innings. It was touch and go, small margins in this game and it did not go our way against Punjab,” he added.