Sharjah: England’s World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan, who is playing the role of a finisher for Kolkata Knight Riders in the ongoing IPL, said it is “difficult” to get a spot higher up the order in a team which boasts of so many “match-winners”.
Coming in to bat at No.6, Morgan hit an 18-ball 44 to conjure up hopes of a successful run-chase before KKR fell short by 18 runs against Delhi Capitals’ total of 228 on Saturday. For England, Morgan has mostly appeared at No.5 and 4.
Andre Russell (13) and skipper Dinesh Karthik (6) batted ahead of him in the match.
Asked if he came out late to bat, Morgan said: “No, I don’t think so. When you look at our batting line-up, we have a number of match-winners, so it’s very difficult to go up the order.
“Particularly when you have a world-class all-rounder in Andre Russell. He is an incredible striker, and when he comes up the order, obviously everybody else has to shift down a little bit,” he reasoned at the post-match online press conference.
Opening the innings, Sunil Narine has not been able to deliver any performance of note so far.
Asked about his place in the batting order, Morgan said: “Sunil is the type of player who can produce match-winning innings. It’s never been a string of scores, over the years, but more about his impact in a game.
“He always takes the positive option, which summarises how we want to play our cricket,” he said.
Morgan said his team played fantastic cricket and there were a lot of positives to consider despite the loss.
