Gautam Gambhir Lashes Out At The RCB Management For Releasing Chris Morris

Former Indian cricketer, Gautam Gambhir is utterly disappointed by the decision of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to release Chris Morris. On Wednesday, RCB along with all the other franchises have revealed their retentions and released players list.

The Virat Kohli-led side has offloaded as many as 10 players, retained 12 and traded in 2 players – Harshal Patel and Daniel Sams – from the Delhi Capitals ahead of the auction for the 14th edition of the IPL. The mini-auction for the IPL 20221 is expected to happen in early February.

Gautam Gambhir is irked by the fact the RCB has let go of Chris Morris as well. The former batsman opines that while the franchise may look to buy Australian all-rounder, Cameron Green or have traded in two all-rounders from Delhi, however, there is no substitute for the experience which Chris Morris had playing at the level of IPL.

Gambhir also sarcastically mentions that Mike Hesson, Director of Cricket Operations, and head coach Simon Katich are lucky to have their jobs, considering the history of RCB with frequent changes in the coaching staff.

“The biggest positive for RCB is that they have retained Mike Hesson and Simon Katich because I even had a doubt that they might release them as well. I don’t think Cameron Green has the experience of Chris Morris. Yes, you might have seen Cameron Green bowling at 135-140 kph but IPL is a completely different beast,” Gautam Gambhir told Star Sports.

There aren’t many all-rounder’s like Morris in the market: Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir reckons seam bowling all-rounders, who can succeed under the huge pressure in IPL, are a rare commodity. The former KKR captain points out that all-rounders like Ben Stokes, Hardik Pandya, and Andre Russell will never be released by their franchises.

Gambhir understands that RCB has released Morris because of his injury issues. However, the 39-year-old believes that the three-time finalists should have stuck with the South African and asked him to improve on his fitness. Morris took 11 wickets in 9 matches in IPL 2020 at an economy of 6.63 in a season where RCB qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

“For me, it would have been correct because you will not have an all-rounder like Chris Morris available in the market. How many like him do you have – Ben Stokes, Hardik Pandya, and the franchises will never release these players. So, they could have stayed with Chris Morris for one more year and worked on his fitness. Now if you have let him go and think that you will get a replacement for him, I doubt it,” the two-time IPL winning skipper added.

Also Read: Ravindra Jadeja Ruled Out Of The Entire Test Series Against England