England’s World Cup-winning skipper Eoin Morgan has taken over captaincy duties at Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League.
Indian Dinesh Karthik opted to focus on his batting after scoring only 108 runs at an average of 15.42 in the first seven games.
KKR lost by eight wickets to top-of-the-table Mumbai Indians in Morgan’s first match in charge on Friday.
Morgan made an unbeaten 39 off 29 balls in KKR’s 148-5 in Abu Dhabi.
However, KKR hurried to their target with 3.1 overs to spare thanks to Quinton de Kock’s 44-ball unbeaten 78.
Kolkata, who also have England batsman Tom Banton and Australia pace bowler Pat Cummins on their roster, are fourth in the eight-team competition with four wins from eight matches.
Morgan, who became England captain in 2015 and led them to 50-over World Cup glory in 2019, has now scored 214 runs at an average of 42.80 in this year’s IPL.
