Why Dinesh Karthik handing over captaincy to Eoin Morgan is best thing to happen to KKR this IPL

It’s IPL time and cricket fans finally have something to cheer about after over six months. The world’s biggest global T20 tournament has kickstarted with a bang, with all the eight participating teams still very much in the running to make the playoffs. But one team that has caught everyone’s attention over the past few days is Kolkata Knight Riders. The two-time IPL champions enjoyed a good start to the tournament with 2 wins from their first 3 matches, but things have gone downhill for them ever since. Things seem to be a little chaotic in the KKR camp, and that chaos seems to have continued onto the field, and suddenly KKR find themselves placed fourth with 4 wins and 4 losses out of 8 games.

Arguably the biggest evidence that things were not going to plan is the mid-season captaincy exchange between former captain Dinesh Karthik and current captain Eoin Morgan. DK, as Dinesh Karthik is usually called, handed over the captaincy reins to Morgan after KKR’s humiliating defeat by 82 runs at the hands of Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore. DK has said he wants to focus on his batting and does not want the captaincy burden looming over him at all times. This came as an abrupt shock to the entire cricket fraternity and all the fans.

Adding to Kolkata’s sorrows, World Cup winning England captain Eoin Morgan couldn’t turn the wheel of luck in their favour either as they went down without a fight yet again to Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai Indians on Friday, with Mumbai snatching a comfortable 8 wicket victory in a match where KKR never really got going. In his first match this season playing as a player alone and not the captain, Dinesh Karthik was bowled for 4. Not the start he would have wanted for his first post-captain innings.

Eoin Morgan could do little to change the team’s already faltering fortunes. With the likes of Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana and last year’s sensation Andre Russell not quite finding form, and the already mediocre bowling unit not really stepping up, the Kolkata Knight Riders need to find a way to get back in the tournament. They are currently well placed at number four, but a few more dismal performances like these could well see them making room for another team to enter the top four and them sliding down the table. Not what the doctor ordered for the Men in Purple.

Eoin Morgan must put all his captaincy experience to use and reignite the fighting spirit the Knights had all these years. As one of the games better and proven leaders, one would feel that Morgan should have been captain right from the start, but Karthik’s experience cannot be ignored. Now that DK has himself decided to step down, Morgan has a chance to show everyone why he’s considered one of the best limited overs captains. Putting this loss aside in his first game, Morgan will surely come back a better captain with a better and motivated team.

He’s done it all these years for England, time for him to do the same for Kolkata too.