IPL 2021: "Eoin Morgan's captaincy will be tested" – Sunil Gavaskar on KKR's game against SRH

Cricket great Sunil Gavaskar believes Eoin Morgan’s captaincy for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will be tested against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Sunday.

The former India skipper reckons it will be difficult for the Englishman to lift the team’s morale after Friday’s final-over loss to the Punjab Kings (PBKS).

Sunil Gavaskar also thinks that Eoin Morgan’s awful form with the bat will put him under more pressure.

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In his column for the Times of India, the 72-year-old wrote:

"Punjab after their last over win over Kolkata will be in a better frame of mind that KKR who lost that game which they should have won. So it’s where Morgan’s captaincy will be tested for it is not easy to lift a team’s morale after such a narrow loss. Not being in good batting form himself will be additional pressure on him."

Coming into the tournament as a reputed cricket leader, Eoin Morgan has often been criticized for his tactics.

He has also been in terrible form with the bat, averaging 10.9 this season at a strike rate of 101. In the UAE leg of the tournament, the left-hander has scored just 17 runs at 4.25.

KKR’s selection could have been better: Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar has been critical of some of Eoin Morgan’s decision-making, especially when he held back Pat Cummins in a low-score defense against the Delhi Capitals (DC) earlier in the tournament.

Gavaskar also pointed out KKR’s fielding issues and was less than pleased with the team’s balance against PBKS as they played only four specialist bowlers.

"The other area that Kolkata need to lift their cricket is in the fielding for they dropped catches at critical times against Punjab. The selection also where they went in with four regular bowlers and divided the fifth bowlers quota between Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana didn’t make sense and that proved just a tad expensive," Gavaskar added.

The unavailability of Pat Cummins and ill-timed injuries to Lockie Ferguson and Andre Russell have hurt KKR.

The two-time IPL champions play the bottom-placed SRH on Sunday in Dubai. A win would keep their playoff-qualification hopes alive.