IPL 2020: New KKR skipper cannot bring about changes midway through the season, says Gautam Gambhir

Former India batsman Gautam Gambhir expressed surprise Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) captaincy change midway through the season. He felt that Eoin Morgan, who has now taken over the captaincy, may not be able to have an impact after taking over during the season.

Dinesh Karthik had been leading the side since IPL 2018. The news of him relinquishing the captaincy came Friday morning, before their match against Mumbai Indians (MI).

Speaking to Star Sports, Gambhir revealed that this move was not an expected one, especially considering that the side is not in a precarious position in the tournament currently.

“Little surprised. He was obviously leading KKR for the last two and a half years. You don’t do it in the middle of the season. KKR is not in that bad a position that someone needs to change a captain […] I don’t think Morgan can change a lot of things. He could’ve changed a lot of things had he captained from the start of the tournament. No one changes during the middle of the tournament.”

Eoin Morgan should have been appointed as the captain of KKR at the start of the season: Gautam Gambhir

📰 "DK and Eoin have worked brilliantly together during this tournament and although Eoin takes over as captain, this is effectively a role swap," says CEO and MD @VenkyMysore #IPL2020 #KKR https://t.co/6dwX45FNg5

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) October 16, 2020

Gautam Gambhir, who has led KKR to two IPL titles, opined that Eoin Morgan should have been appointed as the captain at the start of the season, if that is what the team management wanted.

“If KKR wanted to make this change, they should have done it at the start of the competition. If you are talking so much about a World Cup-winning captain being there in your team puts pressure on someone like Dinesh Karthik then why not just give it to Morgan straightaway, why put so much pressure on Karthik?”

Morgan did not have a good outing on his captaincy debut for KKR though. Batting first, they only managed a below-par total of 148/5 and MI chased it down without breaking a sweat. The defending champions won by eight wickets in hand and with 19 balls to spare.

Read yesterday's match summary here

Our newly-appointed captain @Eoin16 reflects on last night's #MIvKKR encounter #KKR #Dream11IPL pic.twitter.com/FWK6IKmHnr

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) October 17, 2020

With this defeat, KKR has four wins from eight games, and are currently placed fourth in the points table.

Check out the IPL 2020 schedule

KKR will now take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, on Sunday.