Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
Former Indian opener and Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir has reviewed the four skippers in the IPL 2021 Playoffs and has taken a jibe on KKR skipper Eoin Morgan, stating he is not the skipper of the side. The Indian Premier League 2021 is set to witness its most nail-biting moments this season, with the playoffs set to begin on Sunday.
While reviewing the skippers of the top four teams, Gambhir stated that CSK skipper MS Dhoni is the man above the others. He also added that Rishabh Pant has experienced campaigners in his team who can certainly help the youngster while taking crunch decisions. However, in KKR’s case, the southpaw believed that their team is being captained by the off field staff and not Morgan.
Video Analyst captains the KKR, Morgan just looks at him: Gambhir
Former Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Gambhir, who led the team to their title victories in 2012 and 2014 has yet again taken a jibe on England’s World Cup winning skipper Morgan for taking advice from the support staff in the KKR setup. “Morgan’s point of view, I’m not sure because he doesn’t captain, so it’s the video analyst that captains the side. He only just looks at the video analyst, so I don’t know whether he’s the captain on the field or if the captaincy is happening off the field,” Gambhir said in a chat on the show ‘Runorder’ by ESPNCricinfo while reviewing the four skippers.
Earlier, Gambhir, in his column for Times of India mentioned that Morgan has been too generous in taking advices from the support staff and he should work on his own instinct. He added that he would have left the KKR captaincy if the team had proposed him the same way of captaincy that Morgan is implementing.
Virat has been fabulous captain; Dhoni No. 1 skipper: Gambhir
The 39-year-old former Indian batsman Gambhir also threw light on the other skippers of the top four teams of IPL 2021 and stated that Kohli has been a fabulous captain this year. “Virat has been fabulous. Honestly, I have not enjoyed a lot of his captaincy, but this time around, he’s been very, very good. Probably the reason is because he thinks this is his last time as captain in IPL, (so) he wants to enjoy it more; he’s just more relaxed. And he’s got the bowlers this time,” Gambhir said on the same show.
He added that Dhoni is the best skipper amongst all the final four and stated that Rishabh Pant has an advantage of having experienced players with him. “Purely from the captaincy point of view who can handle the pressure best, probably has to be Dhoni. Rishabh has the advantage from a point of view that he’s got a lot of experience in the playing XI. If Steve Smith plays, he’s got him alongside. He has got Ravichandran Ashwin who has captained earlier as well… so for me Dhoni is No. 1 at the moment,” the Southpaw concluded.
On Sunday, October 10, Delhi Capitals will lock horns against 3-time IPL winners Chennai Super Kings in the Qualifier 1. The winner will make it to the final while the losing team will still have a chance as it will play against the winner of Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore in Qualifier 2 on October 13. RCB and KKR will face each other on October 11.
