Former India left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha didn't agree with the captaincy change within the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) set-up midway through the IPL 2020.
Ojha was critical of the leadership change where Dinesh Karthik handed over the reins to Eoin Morgan after being skipper for seven games.
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"Dinesh Karthik is the captain. He calls all the decisions, he talks to the coaches, management, he picks the Indian players, he is in the thick and thin of the team's decisions. Suddenly in the middle of the tournament, he says that he doesn't want to take the captaincy because of my batting. I don't understand that, somehow I feel it is not right," Ojha told Sports Today.
"When you have taken the responsibility, you have a set of ideas that you want to finish this season, then you finish the season and give the captaincy to someone else. That's what I feel."
"I know Morgan was there in the leadership group but he was not the captain till everybody started this tournament. But I doubt he was part of the selection, part of the decision-making process," added the 34-year-old who played 24 Tests, 18 ODIs, 6 T20Is for the country and was an IPL winner.
Morgan's captaincy debut on Friday (October 16) resulted in one of KKR's heaviest losses to Mumbai Indians (MI) in Abu Dhabi after they failed to defend their modest score of 148/5, seeing MI sail past it in just 16.5 overs with eight wickets left.
While Karthik's batting position was once again a topic of discussions as he managed just 4 runs before being dismissed, Ojha brought the struggles of KKR's explosive all-rounder, Andre Russell, under the scanner.
Out for another low score (12) versus MI, the big Jamaican now has only 83 runs from 8 matches this IPL season, not being able to replicate in UAE the excellent form he had shown last year in India.
"Andre Russell is not an improved cricketer, he has not changed his game. You see all the top players, they have changed their approach. Andre Russell is playing just the way he was playing 4 years ago, that is a liability," said Ojha.
"Look at Jasprit Bumrah, when he came into the Mumbai Indians side and what he is today, you have to improve. You have to improve as a cricketers, cricket is evolving and you have to evolve, you cannot be stagnant," he added.
