"Shane Warne's cricket brain probably the best I have ever come across" - Eoin Morgan
England white-ball skipper Eoin Morgan has waxed eloquent over Australian legend Shane Warne. Eoin Morgan on Sunday called Warne the best 'cricket brain' who has the most 'advanced' ideas about modern sport.
Eoin Morgan and Shane Warne will join hands for the London Spirit team at The Hundred later this year. Eoin Morgan will lead the men's side, which also includes the likes of Glenn Maxwell and Mohammad Amir. Shane Warne will fill in the role of the team's head coach.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Eoin Morgan said talking about the sport with the former leg spinner has been 'amazing'. The 34-year-old added that it would be equally good for Spirit's squad members to learn from Warne in the month-long tournament.
"Warne has been unbelievable to work with! I think one of the things... meeting Shane, and having done the preparation that we did a year and a half ago for the first draft and then for the second draft, just speaking cricket with him has been amazing. His cricket brain is probably the best I have ever come across. His ideas about the game are always on point. They might not be traditional, in a way that they are thought out but his ideas about the game are as advanced as I have ever heard," said Eoin Morgan.
"So I think it's going to be an incredible experience working with him and I think for every player that gets to play at the Spirit this year, it's going to be huge because they'll see one of the greatest bowlers of all time dishing out all this experience on point about the current game even though he hasn't played in maybe 20 years is incredible," he added.
Shane Warne, who picked up 1001 wickets from 339 games across formats, is currently the team mentor for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL. Eoin Morgan, on the other hand, will lead the Kolkata Knight Riders in the impending season.
"KKR has really strong chances this year" - Eoin Morgan
Speaking about KKR's chances in this year's IPL, Eoin Morgan said the team has learned valuable lessons from last year and are better prepared to compete in the competition.
"We have really strong chances this year. Having gone through the experience last year, my first year as captain, Brendon McCullum's first year as coach. Learning more and more about the players who would benefit us in a huge amount this year. We are in a really strong position, we have guys fully fit at the moment and when you look down the line, particularly on paper, it (our team) looks pretty strong," said Eoin Morgan.
KKR finished fifth in the points table last year after missing out on the top-4 spot by a slender margin in NRR. They will start their IPL 2021 campaign against David Warner's Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 11 in Chennai.