Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batsman Eoin Morgan emphasized the importance of "leaders without title" within his team, acknowledging their influence on the fortunes of the group in a highly-competitive tournament such as the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Morgan, England's 2019 World Cup-winning captain, is among those senior heads in the side led by India wicketkeeper batsman Dinesh Karthik and guided off the field by coach Brendon McCullum, the former New Zealand captain.
The 34-year-old has been seen doing the crucial middle-order duties and provide his invaluable inputs on the field for the betterment of the team.
"I think it has worked really well so far. I think DK and Brendon McCullum lead extremely well within the team," Morgan told PTI. "Within aspect of the rest of the players, we have a number of senior leaders that take on roles that don’t have a title."
"And within the team, that plays a pivotal part because when other seniors players, apart from captain and coach and vice-captain, lead or take on directions or decisions, it gives absolute clarity for the rest of the team."
"Embodying that moving forward is so powerful that it creates intangible things that great teams talk about. Feeling the moment, the sacrifices that you make, it’s all worthwhile. So far we have made it work," he added.
In England, Morgan leads one of the most culturally diverse sporting teams in the world. Born an Irishman, he talked of the similarities within the KKR dressing room, where also players are from different backgrounds, religions and speak unique languages.
"I feel sport is always transient but the language you speak when you are playing that sport tends to stay with you."
“It’s fascinating to watch guys talk about cricket in different languages in the change room and people who don’t know that language tend to understand and get the gist of what they are trying to achieve."
"Evolution of franchise cricket has made coming into a change room that has different culture with potentially a different language or two or three different languages a lot more easier to gel."
He is also happy that the English cricket fraternity has finally opened its arms and have embraced the IPL rather than bemoan it as it did in the years gone by.
"I think compared to previous seasons, certainly (I) not having played in IPL for a number of seasons, difference between an England player coming in now and an England player coming seven-eight years ago is even more," said Morgan.
"Because now some of our players who play in that England shirt are sought after players. Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer, these guys have genuine chances of becoming MVPs every year."
"That’s the level of confidence that now an English player brings as opposed to before, when it was almost an after-thought because of the conflict within somewhere and English players being deterred to come in many ways. It’s a completely different aspect, one that we love coming to town."
Among the most experienced cricketers playing in the IPL, Morgan says he has worked extremely hard to become the player he is today, someone capable of fitting into different batting line-ups and positions.
"I think, over the years, that is something that I have always aspired to do and throughout your career, probably through young age from mid 20s, particularly in international cricket where it is very difficult, standard is always high and there is always a counter to everything that you are trying to do."
“The more you play, the less bad or common mistakes you are going to make. Experience is worth its weight in gold and I have made most of my experience in probably the last two and half to three years,” he said.
That adaptability and flexibility have been evident even in this tournament, with Morgan playing No.6 someday and then going up as per the team's demands on another.
"I think middle-order is quite flexible at the moment, depending on what team we play and type of attack we come up against."
"Different batters are suited to different bowlers and DK and coach are very good at reading what’s the right way to move forward in that regard. We have lot of options which are flexible," Morgan concluded.
With three wins and two losses, KKR are currently fourth in the points table. The team next face Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in Abu Dhabi on Saturday (October 10).
