MUMBAI:
The Mumbai Indians
’ bold move to replace
Rohit Sharma
with the recently-traded
Hardik Pandya
may have lost them a huge amount of followers on social media, but it has received a thumbs-up from England’s 2019 ODI World Cup winning captain
Eoin Morgan
.
"Having the opportunity to bring back Pandya in the side is one that any team would jump at. But also, if you look at the franchise itself, they have had a very forward thinking, logic-driven and future-proof driven style of strategy for a long time.
A decision like this reinforces that the franchise always comes first. They don’t see any short-term planning in anything that they do. They always try and invest as much as they can in players. You probably see this as being a tough decision that they’ve made hoping that the long-term benefits will see MI lifting another championships in the coming years," Morgan, anIPL Expert at JioCinema, told TOI in an interaction on Monday.
"So, in a way, you’ve to admire the courage that it takes to make a decision like that because not every team would take that decision," he added.
Former India opener Wasim Jaffer had expressed his apprehensions about the impact player rule in the IPL, saying that it should be eliminated since it discourages all-rounders from bowling much and batters from bowling, but Morgan batted for the rule, which allows the introduction of a new player by either team at any stage in the game.
"I like the impact player rule. I think it allows you to produce performances from a side that possibly wouldn't be able to do," Morgan said, before explaining why he backed it.
"So, I mean, I've sat in many selection meetings over the years and having all round is an absolute privilege. But when you don't have them available, it really does hamper selection because you're always struggling to balance the side either with an extra batter or an extra bow. Resulted in having a rule in place, creates an even field across the whole tournament and allows teams to be more tactically savvy when it comes to playing against tougher opposition who might be stacked full of all-rounders," he said.
The 37-year-old felt that with all the teams’ top-order more or less sorted out, batters will be less in demand in Tuesday’s IPL auction compared to the pacers, since all the franchises need quicks more.
"I think when you look at the teams that I suppose are coming into tomorrow's auction, the top order in pretty much all of the teams are already fulfilled. So in that regard, I don't see many of the batters going for huge amounts of money. Obviously, Harry Brook is going to be in there and will be sold after the likes of Phil Salt from an English point of view as well. But the way most of the sides are set up, the top order are mainly cemented moving forward. So you'd imagine going for the bowlers primarily because sides need pace bowlers more so than say wrist spinners and mystery spinners," the 37-year-old analysed.
Morgan backed the likes of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Tavis Head, Gerald Coetzee and Rachin Ravindra to be the most 'sought after' overseas players in Tuesday’s auction. Amongst the Indian players, he felt Tamil Nadu’s big-hitter Shahrukh Khan "could potentially create a bidding war."
"He's obviously been in fine form. He's taken some wickets recently as well. When he's in form, he's so destructive and then players who can bat in that sort of Rinku Singh model of finishing could potentially create a bidding war," the former England skipper said.
English (US) ·