IPL 2020: ‘That is a liability,’ Pragyan Ojha slams star all-rounder after KKR’s loss to Mumbai Indians
IPL 2020: The allrounder came into the IPL 2020 with a huge reputation but has had an average tournament, scoring just 83 runs from eight matches.
Mumbai Indians registered their second win against Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2020 on Friday, defeating the two-time IPL champions by eight wickets in Abu Dhabi. This was Mumbai Indians 11th win over KKR in the last 12 matches, which demonstrates just how lop-sided this rivalry has been.
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It wasn’t the kind of start Eoin Morgan would have expected as an IPL captain. After the match, former India spinner Pragyan Ojha came down hard on KKR, especially all-rounder Andre Russell, whom the spinner believes, hasn’t shown any valuable addition in his batting. Russell, who came into the IPL 2020 with a huge reputation has had an average tournament, scoring just 83 runs from eight matches. On Friday, he was dismissed for 15 by a snorter from Jasprit Bumrah.
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“Andre Russell is not an improved cricketer, he has not changed his game. You see all the top players, they have changed their approach. Andre Russell is playing just the way he was playing 4 years ago, that is a liability,” Ojha told Sports Tak
“Look at Jasprit Bumrah, when he came into the Mumbai Indians side and what he is today, you have to improve. You have to improve as a cricketer, cricket is evolving and you have to evolve, you cannot be stagnant.”
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Ojha revealed he wasn’t a fan of KKR changing captaincy in the middle of the tournament. On Friday, it was announced that Dinesh Karthik had handed over captaincy of the team to World Cup winning captain Morgan in order to focus on his batting. Ojha, however, feels that a move as big as this leaves behind certain repercussions.
“Dinesh Karthik is the captain. He calls all the decisions, he talks to the coaches, management, he picks the Indian players, he is in the thick and thin of the team’s decisions. Suddenly in the middle of the tournament, he says that he doesn’t want to take the captaincy because of my batting. I don’t understand that, somehow I feel it is not right,” he said.
“When you have taken the responsibility, you have a set of ideas that you want to finish this season, then you finish the season and give the captaincy to someone else. That’s what I feel. I know Morgan was there in the leadership group but he was not the captain till everybody started this tournament. But I doubt he was part of the selection, part of the decision-making process.”