Chris Morris has had an underwhelming second half of IPL 2021, conceding 50 runs off 4 overs recently against RCB.
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Rajasthan Royals’ Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara has certainly not attempted to mince words when discussing all-rounder Chris Morris’ performance in the ongoing UAE leg of IPL 2021. Sangakkara believes that Morris has failed to make much of an impact in the second half of the current edition, despite the high expectations from a player of his calibre. The former cricketer further added this assessment was shared by the South African as well. RR suffered a defeat against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in their previous IPL 2021 encounter, following a dramatic collapse. The Royals went from 100 for 1 in 11 overs to 149 for 9 in 20 which eventually cost them the game.
“In the first half of the tournament in India we were struggling in the powerplays and the middle and late-middle order was getting us back into the games. In the second phase we’ve gone the opposite way. We’re winning the powerplays quite comfortably, except in the Delhi game, in the sense we’re getting the runs that we need. And then we’re not really understanding how to manage the middle and the death. When we get the platform like we did today 100 runs for 1 after 11 overs, how to kick on from there, get to 180-185 we need to figure,” said Sangakkara.
“Morris has done brilliantly in the first half and he hasn’t done as well as he or we would’ve liked him to in the second half. He knows it and we know it. 50 runs off 4 overs… the last over to me was a throw of the dice to try and get a wicket here or there. We were well out of the game at that point. But he’s done well for us in certain parts,” he added.
“We don’t play the blame game in our franchise. Win together, we lose together. We take the same attitude into training and games. Haven’t done well enough, haven’t been smart enough with our batting and we all know that. The players know that. So we’ll try to keep things simple, focus on training and how we plan to execute what we’ve spoken about. We haven’t been able to tie a full game together yet. We’ve been good with our batting at times, good with bowling, but haven’t been able to put up a cohesive performance. That’s what we’re searching for,” stated the former cricketer.
Sangakkara believes that the Rajasthan-based franchise needs to keep things simple in the remaining games of IPL 2021.
“We always keep things simple. There’s a lot of pressure on players that they put on themselves; in the game itself there’s a lot of it. My job is not to add to that but help them deal with it and come up with their best performances. There’s many ways in which you manage the highs of wins and disappointments of a loss and be able to keep yourself calm and focus on what needs to be done. At times like this, it’s very easy to be dejected and break up into little groups where murmurings can start but our group has held together really well,” he concluded.
