Certain section of fans have called for the sacking of Dinesh Karthik as KKR captain, but Brad Hogg explains why it would be risky to give captaincy to Eoin Morgan.
Kolkata Knight Riders captain Dinesh Karthik has been facing significant criticism from fans and experts alike for some of his decisions in the past few games. His poor form is not helping his cause either, as a section of fans also called for his sacking as the captain of the side.
Eyebrows were raised over Karthik's decision to play above Eoin Morgan against Delhi Capitals on Sunday, when the English batsman had been in significantly better form over the past few matches. In another surprising call, Pat Cummins came to bat above Rahul Tripathi in the same game.
While Karthik's decision-making has come under scrutiny, former cricketer Brad Hogg who has also represented Kolkata Knight Riders, believes that it would be unwise to remove Karthik from captaincy.
On his YouTube channel, Hogg reasoned why it would be a risk to give the captaincy to Eoin Morgan.
“You gotta realise in their team they can only play four overseas players," Hogg began.
"If Morgan starts finding a little bit of misfortune with his form, they have to bring in Tom Banton. Having him as captain will make it difficult to drop Morgan. So, I’d stick with Dinesh Karthik, but utilise Morgan’s experience,” said Hogg.
The Knight Riders are also facing concerns over their opening slot in the batting order. Sunil Narine has failed to step up in this season so far, and former cricketer Aakash Chopra had earlier asked for the KKR to drop the experiement with the West Indies player.
"KKR could have chased down the 229-run target (against Delhi Capitals). You played an extra batsman in Rahul Tripathi instead of Kuldeep Yadav. But if you have played him, you should have opened with him. You are opening with Narine and that experiment is not working,” Chopra, who was a part of KKR in the inaugural edition of the tournament, had said.
