Playing At Lord's Helped Me Develop Reverse Sweep: Eoin Morgan

England limited-overs skipper Eoin Morgan has revealed that playing at the Lord’s Cricket Ground helped him develop the reverse sweep shot in his batting arsenal. Morgan led England to their first-ever 50-over World Cup win last year after the side managed to defeat New Zealand in the grand finale.

Morgan will be seen playing for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Morgan has had a wide variety of experience in the IPL so far. Morgan took part in the 2010 Indian Premier League (IPL). Back then, he was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore for a sum of $220,000.

Morgan was purchased by the Kolkata Knight Riders for $350,000 at the 2011 IPL auctions for the next three years. In 2014, Morgan decided not to enter IPL 2014 due to England playing an ODI series against Sri Lanka at home when IPL took place.

In 2015, Eoin Morgan decided to play the Indian Premier League and was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for $150,000. He also played seven games for the Sunrisers in IPL 2016. In 2017 IPL Auctions, he was bought by Kings XI Punjab for INR two Crore. In the 2020 IPL auction, he was purchased by the Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of  IPL 2020.

Eoin Morgan Reveals That He Learnt Reverse Sweep At Lord’s

“I started playing reverse-sweep when I first came to London as a 16-year old and signed up at Middlesex. Playing at Lords, the boundaries were very short square of the wicket and they are really long straight. When I played in the first team as a 17-18-year-old, trying to clear the long straight boundary at Lords was very difficult for me,” official website of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) quoted Morgan as saying.

“So I started playing a lot more sweeps than probably your average player just because they were more effective at our home ground. I sort of drilled the reverse sweep and swept for as long as I could. The reverse sweep has been one of my favourite shots because it’s been so effective over the years. I probably play it less and less now because things have changed and people have started setting fields for that,” he added.

Major Concerns Still Stand Firm Over IPL 2020 Future

As coronavirus outbreak has brought the world to a standstill, the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was postponed from March 29 to April 15. Meanwhile, India is under complete lockdown for three-weeks to combat the deadly virus.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is now eyeing the October-November window for the IPL. But the move can be possible only if the world cricket governing body ICC decides to postpone the 2020 T20 World Cup that is to be held later in the year, according to some sources in the board.

On Friday, latest reports suggested that the BCCI is probing into the July window to conduct the IPL and it could take place behind closed doors.

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