Because the two are at different phases of their respective international careers, Gautam Gambhir says it is inappropriate to compare the batting forms of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Eoin Morgan.
On Thursday, the former Indian opener claimed that despite retiring from international cricket, MS Dhoni has outperformed Morgan, who is the captain of England’s ODI and T20I teams.
Gautam Gambhir made the comments during a video interview with ESPNcricinfo before the IPL 2021 final between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders. The former KKR captain was asked to compare and contrast the disappointing performances of the two World Cup-winning captains in terms of their teams’ different successes.
“Comparing their forms is very wrong in itself because MS Dhoni has retired from international cricket and the second player is the captain of his national team. You should not compare apples with oranges. MS Dhoni hasn’t played international cricket for so long and it’s acceptable if he’s not in form or is contributing less. But on the other hand, Morgan is playing international cricket. Still, if you look at their performances, MS Dhoni has performed better than Morgan even with the bat.” he said
“Moreover, MS Dhoni also keeps wickets and captains so there are three departments. Morgan has only two things – captaincy and batting, where one has been totally bad. So, it’s not fair to compare MS and Morgan’s form.” Gautam Gambhir added
MS Dhoni
MS Dhoni and Eoin Morgan are both having their worst IPL seasons right now.
Dhoni has batted 11 times this season, scoring 114 runs at a strike rate of 106.54% and an average of 16.2. His finest innings came against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Qualifier 1, when he scored 18 runs off only six deliveries to assist CSK to win.
Meanwhile, Morgan has played in 15 IPL 2021 innings so far. Only 129 runs have been scored for him, with an average of 11.73 and a strike rate of 98.47. He had a number of good innings in the first half, with a top score of 47*, but since the competition moved to the UAE, he has only scored in double digits once.
Gautam Gambhir also expressed optimism that his previous side would win the final and tie the CSL for the most IPL titles with three. He believes that a win today would put KKR on par with CSK in terms of success and recognition.
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