KKR captain Eoin Morgan provides update on his split webbing injury ahead of IPL 2021

Ahead of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Eoin Morgan gave an update on his fitness as he said the gap between the ODI series between India-England and IPL gave him the best time to recover. Morgan, England's limited-overs skipper, missed the final two ODIs against India after sustaining a split webbing between his thumb and index finger in the series opener.  

Morgan's injury required four stitches and KKR fans were in worry whether the talismanic leader will miss a few games early in IPL 2021 due to the injury. However, Morgan has said that he is feeling a lot better now and is looking forward to his progress in the coming days. The southpaw added that doctors would be removing the stitches on Thursday. 

"Yeah, I feel a lot better than I did a week ago. The plan moving forward is to remove the stitches tomorrow and progress with my batting in the coming days and fielding on the back of that. Given the time frame I have available, it's looking very good," said Morgan during a virtual press conference on Wednesday. 

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There plenty of debates surrounding KKR's batting order and team composition during IPL 2020 where the Kolkata outfit narrowly missed out on the playoffs. Morgan is of the view that KKR have plenty of versatility that gives them the opportunity to shuffle things around. However, he admitted that they need to make the right call during matches. 

"We are all due to get together quite soon towards the end of the week in which we will discuss our plans and thoughts and actually talk about our strengths as a squad and team. Last year, we saw the versatility within our middle order and the flexibility to promote myself, DK, or Sunil. If we play well, there will be a lot of teams that will not enjoy playing against us. We need to make the right call in when to play the best hand and that is one thing we learnt from the last year."  

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"The IPL is the biggest tournament in the world which has the biggest of players. A competitive campaign or successful campaign is the battle with the injuries or illness along the way. Whether you like it or not, it does happen throughout a season. Planning needs to be put across to strengthen your team across all areas. We did that in this auction and we are hoping to best position ourselves to have a versatile team when it comes to selection," he added.  

IPL will begin on April 9 with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Mumbai Indians locking horns in the tournament opener. KKR will play their first game on April 11 against SunRisers Hyderabad.