Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Eoin Morgan while reflecting on the loss against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in match 15 of IPL 2021 said that he tends to stay away from Andre Russell when he gets out.
Chasing the mammoth target of 221 runs against CSK in their fourth match of IPL14 Eoin Morgan-led KKR were in a spot of bother as they lost half of their side for just 31 runs.
However, brutal half-centuries from Andre Russell and Pat Cummins and fiery 40 runs by Dinesh Karthik gave hopes to KKR fans but in the end, it was little too much for the trio to do, with no support from the top five and not a single run contributed by the tail as they lost the match by 18 runs.
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While talking at the post-match presentation, KKR skipper Eoin Morgan said that they probably didn’t think that they would get this close after a poor start but the partnership between Russell and Karthik made them believe that if players understand conditions very well, it would be very difficult to stop anyone.
“What a hell of a game of cricket. Certainly from the position we were in after our powerplay, we probably didn’t think we’d get as close as we did. But Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik really did put a partnership together, once you do that taking advantage of the conditions here, it’s very difficult to stop,” Eoin Morgan said during the post-match presentation.
Morgan while lauded Pat Cummins for his innings which gave them the chance of winning towards the end said that it was a tremendous fightback from their middle and lower order.
“A partnership going in that manner and then following that Pat Cummins the way he played really gave us every chance towards the end. Tremendous fight from our middle and lower order which is all you can ask for when you lose wickets upfront like that,” he said.
Morgan said that they didn’t bat well in the first five overs and if they would’ve built partnerships they would’ve been in a really strong position.
“The first five overs of our batting didn’t go our way. We didn’t play as well as would have liked. If we had built a partnership and taken advantage of those early overs going into those middle overs, we would have been in a really strong position,” said Eoin Morgan.
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Morgan said he was happy with how his bowlers adapted to Wankhade. He emphasized that the margin of error was very small and the team needs to be a bit 'kinder towards them. He further defended the bowlers suggesting that although they faltered in execution, the batsmen did too.
“We can be happy with the way we adapted to new ground, different challenges. Going back to it now having watched our guys bat, I don’t think there was a great deal of margin of error. So we have to be a little bit kinder to our bowlers when we walk off.
“Having been hit for 220 and then nearly getting close, being five down very early, you have to be honest with the bowlers about execution. It does make a huge amount of difference but you really have to be on the money here,” he said.
Eoin Morgan further said that he tends to stay away from Andre Russell after he gets out. He added that it was disappointing that other batsmen couldn’t help the West Indian star.
“I tend to stay away from Andre after he’s got out. When he’s in the form like this, he’s as good a player as any in the tournament, particularly when he strikes the ball like that. It’s great that he’s been in this sort of form. it’s disappointing that the rest of us couldn’t help him out. He’ll obviously be disappointed,” he concluded.
KKR will next face Rajasthan Royals (RR) on 24th April at Mumbai.
(News 18 inputs)
