Youngsters Like Sam Curran, Shubman Gill Are Prioritising Test Cricket; Cricket Is In A Really Healthy Place - Eoin Morgan

Eoin Morgan, captain of the England cricket team in limited-overs, opines that the game, in particular Test cricket,  is in a healthy space, despite the allure of the T20 and franchise tournaments.

Eoin Morgan cited examples of youngsters Sam Curran and Shubman Gill who both play Test cricket for their respective countries and are ready to put in the hard grind in the 5-day format. The 34-year-old, who had his Test cricket confined to 16 matches, reckons a player should start out playing all three formats, and only later should consider dropping out of one or two.

“Ultimately younger players always give you a great insight into where cricket is at right now. Our youngest, best talents coming through like our Sam Curran or India’s Shubman Gill who are coming in and starting out on their journey in international cricket are really prioritising Test match cricket,” Eoin Morgan told Sky Sports.

“Up until a certain age you should play everything – you can’t alienate yourself early on in your career or even halfway through. My ambition was always to play Test match cricket. Naturally I was a better white-ball cricketer but the experience of playing Test cricket was important in my evolution.

“That to me means that even amongst the popularity that T20 has brought to the game, and the glitz, the glamour, the revenue streams it has brought in – cricket is in a really healthy place,” he added.

Cricket has been a victim of its own success: Eoin Morgan

The 2019 World Cup-winning skipper points out that while T20 cricket has been a massive success and has brought popularity and riches to the game, however, it has also harmed the game in some ways- whether it is players opting out of playing for national teams or increased corruption in the sport. The Kolkata Knight Riders captain believes that the purists are still not ready to accept the shorter formats.

“Where the game has fallen behind a little bit is probably since 2008 with the start of the IPL, cricket has been a little bit of a victim of its own success – T20 has completely changed the game for the best; it has made it more popular and brought great passion and energy.

“But as a sport sometimes we fight that passion and energy because we’ve been brought up in a different generation where there were one or two formats for a very long time so when things tend to change very quickly the tendency is always to say ‘no, I prefer this'”, the left-hander asserted.

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