His woeful form with the bat has raised a question mark on Eoin Morgan's position in the team and the England captain has said that dropping himself from the playing XI is "always an option" he would consider if it helps the team win.
However, Morgan said he feels he's made up for his lack of runs with his captaincy. It was under Morgan's leadership that England won the 50-overs World Cup in 2019 and are currently the top-ranked team in T20Is.
England skipper Eoin Morgan poses with the World Cup trophy.
Morgan was in terrible form in the UAE leg of IPL 2021, continuing with the lack of runs since the start of the year. In 40 T20 matches in 2021, he has scored only 499 runs at an average of 16.63 with the highest of 47 not out. In 16 innings in the IPL 2021, Morgan scored only 133 runs at an average of 11.06 as he took Kolkata Knight Riders to the final, in which they lost to Chennai Super Kings.
However, if it helps the team win the title, Morgan said he is willing to leave himself out of the playing XI at T20 World Cup.
"It's always something I've said -- it's always an option," Morgan quoted as saying in a report by ESPNcricinfo on Tuesday. "I'm not going to stand in the way of a team winning the World Cup. I've been short of runs but my captaincy has been pretty good, as it goes. So, yes is the answer."
Morgan said that he has contributed a lot as a captain.
"Not being a bowler and being a bit older and not contributing as much in the field, I've loved the role of captain. You get two bites at the cherry impacting the game. As regards my batting, I wouldn't be standing here if I hadn't come out of every bad run of form that I'd ever had. The nature of T20 cricket and where I bat means I always have to take quite high-risk options and I've come to terms with that. It's just something you deal with, it's the nature of the job so I'm going to continue taking those risks if the team dictates they need them."
(With inputs from IANS)
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