Eoin Morgan provides crucial injury update ahead of IPL 2021

Eoin Morgan has confirmed his hand injury is progressing well. The Kolkata Knight Riders skipper revealed he feels better than he did a week ago.

Eoin Morgan missed the last two ODIs against India after splitting the webbing between his thumb and index finger during the first game. The England skipper got stitches as a result and had to pull out of the white-ball series.

He spoke to the media in a virtual press conference on Wednesday, where he talked about the progress made on his injury.

“I feel a lot better than I did probably a week ago. The plan moving forward is to remove the stitches tomorrow. Then progress my batting in the coming days and over the week, and then fielding at the back end of that.”

Two injuries, a debut and an addition to the squad.All the info here 👇 🇮🇳 #INDvENG 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) March 25, 2021

Eoin Morgan entered the KKR bubble via a bubble-to-bubble transfer following the ODI series. The franchise will play their first IPL 2021 game on April 11, when they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in Chennai.

The 34-year-old admitted he expects to be fit for the season opener.

“Given the time frame that I have available to me, it is looking very good.”

Eoin Morgan coy on IPL 2021 batting position

From one bubble to another 👀A special delivery from Pune arrived this afternoon! 🤩@prasidh43 #KKR #HaiTaiyaar #IPL2021 #Cricket pic.twitter.com/Cy8mAaAN7J

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) March 29, 2021

Eoin Morgan was also asked whether the team had finalized a batting position for him ahead of the IPL 2021. The middle-order batsman played in multiple positions for KKR last year and ended up scoring 418 runs in 14 games.

But the KKR skipper expounded on how the team is yet to decide on their batting plans for IPL 2021.

“So we are all due to get together quite soon, at the end of the week. There we will discuss all of our plans and thoughts and actually talk about our strengths as a squad and as a team.”

With the likes of Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik and Andre Russell, KKR have one of the most destructive middle-orders in IPL 2021. Eoin Morgan admitted the flexibility of their batting line-up holds them in good stead in IPL 2021.

“The one positive last year was the versatility in our middle order. The flexibility to promote Sunil (Narine), or promote myself or DK (Dinesh Karthik). The strength of our middle-order is such that if we play well, there are a lot of teams that won’t enjoy playing against us.”

While Eoin Morgan had a solid IPL 2020, Dinesh Karthik and Andre Russell failed to impress. Karthik scored just 169 runs while Andre Russell could muster only 117 runs in 10 games. The duo will target an improved IPL 2021, as KKR eye their third IPL crown this season.