"It's always an option" - Captain Morgan on dropping himself from Playing XI

Eoin Morgan had a rather bad Indian Premier League campaign in which he could score just 133 runs from 17 games at an average of 11.08. It was just an extension of his bad performance throughout the year as he is averaging 16.63 with the highest score of 47 not out from 35 innings. He also sat out of the first warm-up match against India to catch some rest after playing Chennai Super Kings in the IPL final a couple of nights ago.

When he was asked if he would be open to the idea of dropping himself, Morgan was firm in his answer but stated that his captaincy is good enough to hold on till then. 

"It's always something I've said - it's always an option," Morgan said, reported ESPN Cricinfo. "I'm not going to stand in the way of a team winning the World Cup. I've been short of runs but my captaincy has been pretty good, as it goes. So, yes is the answer. Not being a bowler and being a bit older and not contributing as much in the field, I've loved the role of captain. 

"You get two bites at the cherry impacting the game. As regards my batting, I wouldn't be standing here if I hadn't come out of every bad run of form that I'd ever had. The nature of T20 cricket and where I bat means I always have to take quite high-risk options and I've come to terms with that. It's just something you deal with, it's the nature of the job so I'm going to continue taking those risks if the team dictates they need them."

Since changing their whole approach towards limited-overs cricket, England have been a fierce unit in both ODIs and T20Is. They won the home ODI World Cup and now have set their eyes on the T20 format, which Morgan feels will be incredibly special if they can manage to beat the odds and emerge victorious.

"I think it'll be unbelievably special if we manage to do it," Morgan said. "I think that the group of players that we've had together for the last five or six years, alongside some new, really talented and young guys coming through, who have really made a name for themselves, makes the composition of the squad extremely strong. Obviously playing away from home creates challenges, and for the first time since 2016 we're going into a world tournament where we haven't been favourites. So again, there are some challenges, but challenges that we've overcome in bilateral series on previous occasions, and challenges that we're really looking forward to.

"We're always trying to push the limits, we're always trying to get better as a side, and since 2019 our cricket has been as consistent as ever, I think, in the T20 format which is extremely difficult to do when there's been chopping and changing the whole time. And I think with the opportunity of not only this World Cup but next year's as well, there's a real chance of being contenders."