Eoin Morgan - A cricketer worth far more than the numbers he produced

9th March, 2015. Eoin Morgan, crestfallen and gutted, walks out for his customary post-match duties, moments after England have been knocked out of the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup by Bangladesh. When asked how he felt, Morgan was blunt but visibly heartbroken, quipping that it felt pretty poor to be knocked out at that stage.

He described the feeling as utterly disappointing too. He also opined that the changes, which had become a recurring theme throughout the tournament, were necessary. More importantly, though, he admitted that there would be inquests and that they would take a thorough look at what was needed moving forward.

Morgan had only been handed over the reins months before the World Cup. At that juncture, many opined that it was the right move and thought that the left-handed batter would weave his magic wand and make things alright. England, however, just weren’t equipped enough to leave a lasting impression on the ODI game.

This, by the way, was in the backdrop of Morgan being incessantly asked by the selectors to take up captaincy. Rumours has it that he had as many as 20 missed calls from then-selector James Whitaker. So, from that perspective alone, it felt that the selectors’ punt didn’t quite work out, especially after England’s early exit.

Cut to four years later. The Lord’s Cricket Ground is packed to the rafters. England have navigated their way to a home World Cup final and only New Zealand stand between them and history. Morgan, as you might’ve guessed by now, is still at the forefront and someone who has defined a generation of English cricketers.

On that pressure-laden evening, England aren’t quite able to flex their muscles as they usually do. The opposition is wily and the occasion daunting. There are moments where their cavalier approach is put to the test. To an extent, they are forced to rein it in.

Eventually, though, it comes through. A lot of people might say that Ben Stokes’ stroke of luck and questionable rules snatched the World Cup away from New Zealand. For Morgan and his team, however, it was the sort of luck they had created for themselves. Not by doing anything spectacular on the evening that mattered, but by introducing a brand of cricket many felt was too risky to be regularly preached, and practiced.

Whenever you talk about Morgan, the 2019 World Cup final comes up in conversation. Rightly so too. It was an occasion that told the world how quickly fortunes change in this sport, while also illustrating that it takes hours of hard work and enormous amounts of courage to pull it off.

This article isn’t about the trophies he won. Or the high win percentages he garnered as England’s ODI and T20I captain. It’s about how he, at a time when this white-ball revolution seemed a futile venture, believed in it enough to make those around him also accept it.

It took a while. Remember that manic ODI series against the Kiwis in the aftermath of the 2015 World Cup? Many were thrilled because of the brand of cricket England played. How many, though, actually believed that this journey would culminate in a World Cup victory?

Now, people might say they did. Back then, only a handful did. Fortunately for England, Morgan did.

This aggressive brand of cricket that almost all English white-ball batters play nowadays hasn’t materialized overnight. It took someone of Morgan’s character and heart to imbibe that mindset. There were days when England would get shot out for low scores. Or, when one of their batters would attempt an extremely audacious shot, only to end up with an egg on his face. But never did Morgan ask them to abandon their attacking instincts. It was either that way, or the highway of historic white-ball doom.

Morgan also spent considerable time at the IPL. At the start, his participation was met with stares and glares. Not many English cricketers embraced the IPL, and the general mindset in the United Kingdom was to look at the competition as some kind of game-ruining tactic. But once Morgan led the way, it became clear that this was probably the last step to England achieving world domination.

Eoin Morgan leaves behind an extraordinary legacy

Over the years, there have been countless cricketers who have left a legacy that goes way beyond the runs they scored, or the wickets they took. The late great Shane Warne made leg-spin fashionable. MS Dhoni told young kids in small Indian towns that they could conquer the world too. If pure numbers are used as a yardstick, Morgan might not be a part of this list.

However, when considering the impact he has left, he will probably feature at the forefront. Not just because England won a World Cup under his leadership. Or, because they have made the semi-final (at least) of every ICC white-ball tournament since 2017.

But because Morgan made them believe that this ultra-aggressive brand of cricket – something that has historically been scoffed at, and a philosophy many have cast aside as a one-match wonder, can work for a sustainable amount of time.

It's almost as if he opened English cricket to newer horizons. They could now play their strokes and not get a rap on the knuckles for it. A scoop would be met with as much applause as a cover drive. And a dismissal while attempting a reverse sweep was just as bad as getting bowled by a delivery that pitched on leg stump and clipped the top of off stump.

The most telling bit was the sort of trust Morgan placed in his troops. England’s squads would hardly change in white-ball cricket and even when some of his most trusted lieutenants would undergo rough patches, they would be persisted with. Almost always, they would repay him instantly, illustrating that the former England skipper knew exactly what he was doing.

Morgan, too, benefited from that practice. Throughout the 2019 World Cup, there were murmurs that he wasn’t doing enough. Or, more precisely, wasn’t doing what is generally expected from a captain. When he got into the groove, though, as Afghanistan would testify, he produced one of the all-time great ODI knocks.

It’s not as if he hasn’t given himself a long rope. For the past few months, this discussion around whether the former Kolkata Knight Riders captain warrants a place in England’s first-choice eleven, has been more frequent than the runs he has scored. Age, however, is not a professional sportsperson’s greatest friend. That, though, does not take anything away from what he has accomplished.

The former England captain turned things around after a disastruous 2015 World Cup campaign

Back in 2015, when England travelled with an unsuitable squad for the World Cup, many expected Morgan to weave his magic wand and make things alright. It was, at that juncture, a quite ludicrous assumption. As time passed, it became clear that he was actually capable of sprinkling magic wherever he went.

That game against Bangladesh, by the way, also saw the former England captain getting dismissed for a duck, which will also be the same number of runs he scored in his final two international appearances. It’s not a record he would’ve wanted. But he’s so humble and grounded that he will take this in his stride too.

In 2015, he knew he had it in him to spark a turnaround. More importantly, he acknowledged that if England were to unlock their white-ball potential, he needed to be there – right at the forefront, confronting questions about England’s approach and taking the pressure off his teammates.

In 2022, he might’ve still had the tools to succeed in international cricket. One thing that has changed, though, is that he knows England’s white-ball structure, irrespective of whether he is present or not, will do just fine. Or, more precisely, that he has gotten England’s white-ball game to where it always dreamt of being.

If that is not emblematic of his legacy, nothing will ever be. He was a character the sport needed. He was a character England thought they would only get in their wildest dreams. But he was a character that morphed everything into reality.

Legend has it that Morgan had 20 missed calls on his cell phone, asking him to take up captaincy. There might have been just as many to ask him to not hang up his boots. But now, the time is probably ripe for him to walk away from the sport he loved and the sport he made so many fall in love with.

He has done so much for English cricket that whenever it is chronicled, there will be two separate chapters. An England white-ball era before Morgan became captain, and an England white-ball era after Morgan took over.