"The memories will last for a long time" - Eoin Morgan recalls England's epic 2019 World Cup win
England and Kolkata Knight Riders captain Eoin Morgan relived England's maiden ODI World Cup win in a recent video posted by KKR on their YouTube channel. The 2019 World Cup final was one of the most thrilling ODIs ever and went right down to the wire.
New Zealand posted a target of 242 for England but even after 100 overs of play, both sides couldn't be separated and the final had to be decided through a Super Over. Incredibly, even the Super Over was tied and England emerged champions on the now-scrapped boundary count rule.
Although it was agonizing for the Kiwis, Eoin Morgan looks back at it as one of the greatest games the sport has ever seen. He recalled:
"The final was the most dramatic game and the greatest game ever been played, which contributes to the hype of it. The game was so tight right till the end.
"The journey that we were on for the whole four years, becoming No.1 in the world, being the batting team to score the most 300s, 350s, 400s, 450s, building those memories along the way.
"These memories and friendships will last for a long time and that is the most rewarding thing in the end. Yes it was awesome."
Eoin Morgan explains how England team was rebuilt
After England's exit from the 2015 World Cup, there were a whole host of changes in the setup, including former skipper Andrew Strauss being appointed as the Director of Cricket. Eoin Morgan was retained as captain and he believed batting was an area that they needed to improve on.
England started blooding fresh talent like Jason Roy, Alex Hales and Jonny Bairstow into the ODI setup and that completely changed the fate of the England team under Eoin Morgan.
"Probably the biggest area that we needed to improve on was our batters. We needed to score more runs at a faster rate. So guys like Jason Roy, Alex Hales, Jonny Bairstow had to be selected. The way that they played was the way that the game was moving forward," Morgan asserted.
With the kind of bench strength England showed in the ODI series against Pakistan, they are set to dominate white-ball cricket for a long time.