Should KKR have named Eoin Morgan as skipper for IPL 2020?
With four points in their bag, the Kolkata Knight Riders are currently sitting on the third position in the points tally of IPL 2020. Though the team is having a decent run in the T20 extravaganza, KKR’s skipper Dinesh Karthik is under the scanner. Critics and experts feel that instead of him, England’s World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan should lead the side for good results.
How it started
The debate was reignited when Kolkata lost their fourth match of the season campaign against the Delhi Capitals. Many questions were raised on his tactical decisions and rotation of the bowlers in the field. Also, he was mercilessly trolled by the fans for his poor batting performance. However, Karthik dismissed the critics by improvising against CSK to emerge victorious. He also played a Man of the Match innings in the next match against Kings XI Punjab (58 off 29) to take his team to their second consecutive victory.
The Comparison
Both Morgan and Karthik have featured in 290-odd T20 games maintaining a strike rate of 132.58 and 132.78 respectively. While the former seems to be more successful in the international circuit, Karthik has excellent records under his name in the IPL. In his 13-year career of IPL, Karthik has represented many teams namely Delhi, Punjab, Mumbai, Bangalore, Gujarat and Kolkata aggregating 3,761 runs in 188 fixtures at an average and strike rate of 26.7 and 130.
Eoin Morgan, on the other hand, started his run in the IPL in 2015 with the Sunrisers Hyderabad. He was then picked by Kings XI Punjab for 2017. Then KKR shelled out a handsome amount of INR 5.25 crores to get the World Cup-winning skipper on their side. In his IPL career of 5 years, Morgan has amassed 1,021 runs in 58 matches at an average and strike rate of 23.2 and 123.3, which is not very impressive.
Captaincy an issue?
Talking about the captaincy front, the wicketkeeper-batsman has been quite impressive. Dinesh replaced Gautam Gambhir as the KKR skipper in 2018 and in that season the team finished at the third position. In the last edition of the cash-rich league, KKR failed to make it to the playoffs because of a low Net Run Rate. Under his leadership, Kolkata has played 36 matches, winning 19 fixtures and losing 16 while one match resulted in a tie.
All said and done, Karthik should continue his stint as a captain for Kolkata Knight Riders as he is backed with decent records and experience. Moreover, with the tournament reaching mid-stage, it would not be a wise decision to switch the roles.
