Dropping myself always an option, will not stand in between the team and T20 World Cup, says Eoin Morgan
England captain Eoin Morgan
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England captain Eoin Morgan, who is struggling badly with his batting form, has said that he would not mind dropping himself during the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021 in the UAE and Oman. Notably, Morgan opted to rest in Monday's warm-up match versus India as Jos Buttler led England in his absence.
133 runs at an average of 11.08 in 17 matches is all England World Cup-winning captain could manage in the recently-concluded IPL 2021. On the night of final as well, Morgan failed to fire in the 193-run chase against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and could manage only four runs during his 8-ball stay on the crease. KKR lost the match by 27 runs despite a solid 91-run partnership between their openers in just 63 balls.
Morgan last scored a T20I fifty in August 2020 at Manchester. Moreover, in his last six ODI innings, the 35-year-old has crossed the 30-run mark on just two occasions (42 and 75*). While his England white-ball captaincy remains entact, there were calls to remove him from the KKR captaincy during the IPL 14.
On Monday, Morgan opted to rest himself as Jos Buttler led England during their first warm-up match ahead of the Super 12 stage which starts on October 23. The England batters dazzled at the ICC Academy Ground, with the likes of Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone and Moeen Ali scoring 49, 30 and 43 runs respectively in the middle-order - where Morgan bats.
Amid all the developments, the Dublin-born on Tuesday made the big announcement that he won't mind himself dropping from the eleven, adding that winning the coveted trophy was the number one priority.
“I’ve been short of runs but my captaincy has been pretty good,” said Morgan. “I’ve always managed to treat them as two different challenges. You get two bites at the cherry impacting the game. As regards my batting I wouldn’t be standing here if I hadn’t come out of every bad run of form that I’ve ever had.
“The nature of Twenty20 cricket and where I bat means I always have to take quite high-risk options and I’ve come to terms with that. It’s the nature of the job so I’m going to continue taking those risks if the team needs them – if they don’t, I won’t.”
“It’s always an option 0dropping himself),” he said. “I’m not going to stand in the way of the team winning the World Cup.”
England play New Zealand in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday in their final game before starting their T20 World Cup campaign against defending champions West Indies on October 23.
