IPL 2021: Eoin Morgan doing 'lot better', to resume batting soon

England and Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Morgan had split the webbing between his thumb and index finger during the first ODI against India and was ruled out of the final two games.

KKR captain Eoin Morgan in action during the 2020 edition of the IPL.

England and Kolkata Knight Riders captain Eoin Morgan, who was ruled out of the final two ODIs against India due to a hand injury, is fine and raring to bat at the nets ahead of the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League starting April 9.

Morgan split his webbing between the thumb and index finger during the first ODI. In a virtual press conference on Wednesday, he provided an update on his recovery.

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“I feel a lot better than I did probably a week ago. The plan moving forward is to remove the stitches tomorrow and progress in my batting in the coming days and over the week and then, fielding at the back end of that. Given the time frame that I have available, it is looking very good,” he said.

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The World Cup winner also lauded speedster Prasidh Krishna who made his ODI debut against England recently. The Karnataka bowler has been part of the KKR family since 2018 picking up 18 wickets in 24 games.

"I went and congratulated Prasidh after the toss and told him 'today is a special day'. For me, the debuts are not entirely about the player. There is a bigger picture - the family, friends and the journey the player has been on. All those volunteers, club cricketers, the culture within the town and village you live have all made contributions for you to get there and made sacrifices of different magnitudes. It is a celebration of that achievement and also the start of your next journey. It was great to see Prasidh do well for India," said Morgan.

The importance of Harbhajan

Senior campaigner Harbhajan Singh is one of the new additions for KKR. Morgan believes the India international, with two decades of experience, strengthens an already strong spin department.

"When you look at the spin department as a whole. On paper, it is one of the best in the tournament. You look at the options that we have and the conditions we play in, especially in Chennai where the ball can turn notoriously or at least raise the eyebrows of our spinners. If we play well in the tournament, our spinners will do well," he said.

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Harbhajan will join Caribbean off-spinner Sunil Narine, chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, legbreak bowler Varun Chakravarthy and two slow left-arm spinners Pawan Negi and Shakib Al Hasan.

KKR will start its campaign against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on April 11.