Dinesh Karthik under pressure after wrong captaincy calls; Eoin Morgan to be new leader?

Sharjah, October 4: At the end of an explosive IPL 2020 match that saw both the teams scoring well in excess of 200 runs, the Delhi Capitals stood on the winner's podium. They beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 18 runs after the protagonists together scored 438 runs. But one man took the brunt of fans' ire, KKR captain Dinesh Karthik.

It was not really without reason either. The Knight Riders have lost two matches in four games, and even though this is early period of the tournament it is clear that the two-time champions need fresh thinking to get a move on.

These are two reasons Karthik looked a poor captain in the IPL 2020 and especially in this match against Delhi. Eoin Morgan is a different beast in white ball cricket, and it is for a reason that he is leading England in ODIs and T20Is.

A bionic batsman who can produce sixes at will, Morgan showcased his abilities while hammering an 18-ball 44 with a four and 5 sixes. As the KKR were chasing a mammoth 229, Morgan needed a promotion to get as many overs as possible to make a fist out of this hunt.

But the left-hander came to bat at No 6 in the 13th over at the score of 117 for 5 after the dismissal of Karthik, who made an 8-ball six. From that position, the KKR needed 111 runs to win from 43 balls. It was a hard task even for someone like Morgan, but he tried valiantly.

Karthik seemed to be not thinking beyond Sunil Narine as opener for KKR, a move that gave them benefits in the past especially in those years when they won the IPL crowns. But years have gone by, and the magic is certainly fading.

Narine is not the bowler once he used to be after remodelling his action. Now, he hardly gets any purchase off the wicket, nor is there any mystery in his spin. He is now easy to score off or play out cautiously.

As a batsman, Narine's USP was his aggressive ways that fetched him blistering 20s or 30s interspersed with occasional 50s that allowed KKR to control the chase or gave the freedom to set a target. But now he struggles against genuine pace bowlers so much that he is a walking wicket as proved by Anrich Nortje on Saturday.

In the post-match presentation, Karthik quite strangely said he had not thought about Narine's position until now and he could be giving it a thought now. "We will discuss Narine's role with the coaches, but I have got full confidence in Narine," he said.

Those discussions will have to be held very soon too!