IPL 2021| Eoin Morgan isn't a good T20 captain, wrong to compare him with MS Dhoni: Virender Sehwag
Virender Sehwag believes that MS Dhoni and Eoin Morgan's captaincy credentials in the T20 format shouldn't be compared. Sehwag on Wednesday said the latter isn't as good a leader in the shortest format, as he's in ODIs.
Virender Sehwag's comments were made against the backdrop of Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) nail-biting 18-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in IPL 2021. In his interview to Cricbuzz, Sehwag also dismissed the idea that this contest was between 'two good captains'.
"I don't consider Eoin Morgan the best T20 captain. You might think that for One Day cricket because his team is strong, there are many match-winners. Here, he neither has that good a team nor, in my opinion, he's that good a captain in T20s. I don't believe this is a contest between two 'good' captains. It's not right to compare MS Dhoni with Eoin Morgan," said Virender Sehwag.
The former India opener acknowledged that the Kolkata Knight Riders' setup isn't very strong either. He added that Eoin Morgan will either need to rebuild this side or some of his players will need to put in extraordinary performances to make it into a consistent side.
"Yes, a captain is as good as his team and this team isn't as strong as the England side as well. I believe that when he builds his team next year or if some of his players, 2 batsman and 2 bowlers, perform extraordinarily then it will be a better team which will consistently win games. But at the moment, I don't consider Eoin Morgan to be a very good T20 captain," added Virender Sehwag.
After four games in the tournament, KKR are now 6th in the points table with just a solitary win and three losses.
Eoin Morgan isn't worth retaining for 12-15 crores: Virender Sehwag
When asked whether KKR should retain Eoin Morgan as their captain before the next IPL mega-auction, Virender Sehwag was unequivocal in his reaction, saying the Englishman isn't 'worth' INR 12-15 crores.
Sehwag even claimed that Eoin Morgan wasn't signed by the franchise in IPL 2020 for his captaincy skills in the first place. He alleged that Morgan was supposed to play only as a batsman but got the promotion after Dinesh Karthik had 'altercations' with some of his teammates.
"Eoin Morgan was signed for just [INR] 2 crores. He was made captain because Dinesh Karthik had some altercations with the players. Although Dinesh Karthik had claimed that he is renouncing the captaincy but I don't believe that a captain does that mid-season. Because of those altercations, Morgan was made the captain mid-season. KKR didn't think sign Eoin Morgan to make him the skipper, they just bought a player who they got at the base price. Now if they have to retain him for 12-15 crores... I don't think any team, let alone KKR, will do that. He isn't worth that amount of money," signed off Virender Sehwag.