T20 World Cup 2021: "It's always an option" - Eoin Morgan willing to drop himself from playing XI
England skipper Eoin Morgan has made it clear that if the need arises, he will be prepared to drop himself from the starting XI in his side's bid to win the 2021 T20 World Cup.
Morgan comes into the tournament on the back of an extended lean patch with the bat at both the international and IPL level. In seven international T20s this year, the 2019 50-over World Cup-winning captain has managed just 82 runs, with his highest score being 28.
He did lead the Kolkata Knight Riders to their first IPL final since 2014 but did not contribute anything with the bat. The southpaw accumulated just 133 runs in 17 innings at an average of 11.08 and a strike rate of 95.68.
Addressing the media ahead of England’s second warm-up fixture against New Zealand, Morgan explained why it’s difficult for a middle-order batter to maintain consistency in T20 cricket.
"It's always something I've said - it's always an option," said Morgan when asked if he was open to drop himself. "I'm not going to stand in the way of a team winning the World Cup. I've been short of runs but my captaincy has been pretty good as it goes.
"As regards my batting I wouldn't be standing here if I hadn't come out of every bad run of form that I'd ever had. The nature of T20 cricket and where I bat means I always have to take quite high-risk options and I've come to terms with that.
"It's just something you deal with, it's the nature of the job so I'm going to continue taking those risks if the team dictates they need them, if they don't I won't."
Morgan further added that he loves the responsibility of leading the team as it gives him an opportunity to contribute in a game with a secondary skillset.
"I've always managed to compartmentalise both and treat them as two different challenges. Not being a bowler and being a bit older and not contributing as much in the field, I've loved the role of captain. You get two bites at the cherry impacting the game."
Morgan confirmed he’ll play the practice game against New Zealand on Wednesday. The 35-year-old sat out the warm-up game against India on Monday.
Eoin Morgan lauds Super-12 concept; underlines importance of warm-up games
Commenting on the importance of playing warm-up games ahead of the main competition, Morgan said it was an ideal opportunity for the players to regroup and get themselves back into rhythm.
Playing as many as five games in the league stage this time around will give teams a bit of a leeway, unlike previous editions where hitting the ground running was a premium, reckoned Morgan.
"I think they're important for guys that haven't been playing a lot of cricket to get a couple of run outs before we start the tournament.
"With the new format and the larger group as your first challenge throughout the tournament, I suppose you don't have to be coming into the tournament as you think you might do in previous years, when one game might cost you qualifying."
He added:
"With more games that you play it allows you to establish some form as a side and almost gather momentum into the tournament.
"Whereas in previous years, the tournaments that I've played, 2009 getting out of the group stage was extremely difficult, 2010 when we won unbelievably difficult, likewise 2016 when we got to the final, we scraped through the group stages. The two in between we were bundled out in the group stages. So I think there's a little bit more leeway with this new format."
England will open their T20 World Cup campaign against defending champions West Indies on October 23.