Former New Zealand pacer Danny Morrison believes that Virat Kohli should have stayed away from the IPL 2019 captaincy. Morrison believes that Kohli’s IPL captaincy pressure can put an impact on his game in the upcoming Cricket World Cup.
Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) had a horrible start in the IPL 2019. RCB lost all their first six matches and had no hope to return from that situation. Finally, RCB finished at the bottom of the points table (eighth position) with 11 points after winning five matches (and one no result). However, RCB was only one point away from the fourth position of IPL 2019.
Though RCB had a very satisfactory finish in the IPL 2019, Danny Morrison believes that Kohli shouldn’t have played the captaincy role in this IPL season. The former Kiwi pacer feels that the captaincy can impact anyone’s game. He believes that it would be better for Kohli if he would have only focused on his batting.
Morrison recently told India Today, “I would have liked to have Virat relax his captaincy in IPL, just focus on his batting, have a breather, have some downtime. When you are captaining everything, it has to impact you. I think am not alone and other former players who have seen the IPL closely, am saying what some colleagues of mine have said that Virat should have rested in IPL.”
Danny Morrison further said about Virat Kohli’s cricket
Indian national cricket team’s captain Virat Kohli is currently the no.1-ranked Test and ODI batsman. Morrison does not doubt Kohli’s ability to become one of the best batsmen ever in international cricket history. However, he also added that Kohli is a person.
Morrison said, “By his own admission Virat wants to break some of Tendulkar’s records and he has the kind of focus and drive one should have. He is all about that not only as a cricketer but as a person.
“And I know in terms of stardom, Virat is powerful. Turn every corner and there is Virat, on every billboard, TV commercial but you want to last, you want to survive.”
England and Wales are ready to host the 2019 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. A total of top ten teams will compete in this tournament that will run from 30th May to 14th July.
Talking about the importance of Kohli’s captaincy in the upcoming World Cup, Morrison said, “There is a lot of importance being played on Virat the leader of India in the World Cup in England, the home of cricket. Lot of spotlight on him as has been on any Indian captain of the 21st century.”
I love the way they can chat and react – Danny Morrison about Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni’s relation
Morrison also praised MS Dhoni-Virat Kohli’s strong relations. He believes that it is the main reason why India is one of the toughest teams in the forthcoming Cricket World Cup.
Morrison added, “Having someone like MS Dhoni there as his predecessor. I love the way they can chat and react. They obviously have a great rapport also with coach Ravi Shastri in the picture. I think he has a great ally in MS Dhoni because we know what he used to produce as a captain in tough situations. That’s why I think India is tough to beat.”
Indian national cricket team will start their new World Cup campaign on 5th June. In their opening match of this tournament, the two-time World Cup winners India will face South Africa at Southampton.