In an effort to consolidate their place in the top four in the lead-up to the playoffs, Kolkata have announced that Eoin Morgan will take over the team's captaincy from Dinesh Karthik for the remainder of the 2020 Indian T20 League season, beginning with their match against Mumbai today.
“Dinesh Karthik has informed the (Kolkata) management that with a view to focusing on his batting and contributing more to the team’s cause, he wished to hand over the captaincy to Eoin Morgan,” read a statement from Kolkata.
The decision seems to have caught the franchise's CEO Venky Mysore by surprise, who said, “We are fortunate to have leaders such as DK, who has always put the team first. It takes a lot of courage for someone like him to take a decision such as this. While we were surprised by his decision, we are respectful of his wishes.”
“We are also fortunate that Eoin Morgan, the 2019 World Cup-winning captain, who has been the vice-captain, is willing to lead the side going forward. DK and Eoin have worked brilliantly together during this tournament and although Eoin takes over as captain, this is effectively a role swap and we expect that this transition will work in a seamless manner.”
It was during the lead-up to the 2018 season that Karthik was appointed captain of the two-time league champions, taking over the mantle from Gautam Gambhir. Since then, Kolkata have made it to the knockouts in 2018 and settled for fifth place in 2019.
It will be interesting to see how this mid-season change in leadership plays out for Kolkata, who have struggled on more than one occasion to hit the sweet spot when it comes to their batting line-up so far this season.
Feature image courtesy: Twitter.com / Indian T20 League
