Former India opener Gautam Gambhir believes it’s unfair to compare the batting forms of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain, MS Dhoni, with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Eoin Morgan as they are at different stages of their respective international careers now as well. While Dhoni has retired from international cricket, Morgan leads England in the limited-overs format.
And, Gambhir stated that MS Dhoni, despite retiring from international cricket, has done better than Morgan. However, his comments came during a video interaction with ESPNcricinfo before the IPL 2021 final between CSK and KKR.
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Gautam Gambhir said: “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 further added: “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.”
However, both MS Dhoni and Eoin Morgan will take on each other in the final of IPL 2021. While Dhoni has scored 114 runs at an average of 16.2 and a strike rate of 106.54 in 11 innings, Morgan batted in 15 IPL 2021 innings so far with 129 runs at an average of 11.73 and a strike rate of 98.47 as well.
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by saying: “Absolutely. We always talk about Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings and their match is called El Clásico, why? Just because CSK has won the IPL thrice? KKR has also won it twice. If KKR wins this final, it will perhaps become equally successful to CSK. Then you’ll have to keep KKR on the same pedestal as CSK. When we say Mumbai Indians and CSK are the most successful sides, it’s only because CSK has won one more title than KKR. I hope KKR wins the trophy, both become equal at three trophies and KKR gets equal recognition to CSK,” Gautam Gambhir concluded.
