Eoin Morgan led the Kolkata Knight Riders to the IPL final in 2021, the team’s fortunes changing after landing in the UAE for the second leg. However, Morgan, England’s 2019 World Cup-winning captain and considered one of the best white-ball skippers in the world, didn’t find any buyers at the IPL 2022 mega-auction, his base price being Rs 1.5 crore.
While Morgan was brilliant with the bat in IPL 2020 for KKR, scoring 418 runs and was also handed the captaincy from Dinesh Karthik mid-season, his dreadful form with the bat last season – average of 11 at a strike rate of 95 – as well as his age, 35, are believed to be the main reason for franchises not showing any interest in Morgan at the mega-auction.
The left-hander now opened up on his thoughts about the auction, he felt that teams may bid for him in the second round if they needed any middle-order batter or a skipper.
Speaking to the Evening Standard, Morgan said: “I thought my best chance was to be picked up in the second round once squads had been put together, if someone needed help as a reserve middle order, experienced player, captain, whatever. But by the time the first round finished, pretty much every team had boxed that off, so I had no chance.”
The Ireland-born has decided to take a couple of months off and will focus on his improving his batting that has fallen off the cliff in the last year. He admitted his loss of form and drying up of runs; in the T20 World Cup, too, where England were knocked out in the semi-final, Morgan struggled for impactful runs, managing just 68 runs in 6 games.
“I won’t play any cricket for two months at least, regardless of opportunities that present themselves. I have decided to take time away given the year we have ahead.
“It’s a fact that I have not scored enough runs. I’d agree. I am viewing it as a challenge that I have been through before and I’m hoping to come out the other side. I will be using this break to recharge, but also to have a little bit of time to work on things that you don’t have time to work on while you are in competition,” Eoin Morgan added.
