England skipper Eoin Morgan believes that Jonny Bairstow has every right to express his opinion as much as the critics, who can pan the team when they are not playing well.
Morgan had an eventful press meet on the eve of their do-or-die game against India at Birmingham on Sunday, where he presented a dead bat to questions on his future as leader if England happen to get ousted.
When asked about Bairstow’s comments [without naming Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen] that “critics want the team to lose”, Morgan first feigned ignorance. So are you disappointed with the remark? “What remark?” he countered.
When specifically told about Bairstow’s remark, Morgan said: “No. He’s entitled to his opinion, like the critics are. That’s the way he feels.”
At the same time, having lost three games, the England skipper didn’t rubbish the criticism altogether including a social media dig by former skipper Pietersen, who felt that Morgan was “scared” while facing Mitchell Starc.
“I think critics are there to be critical. We haven’t performed well, so they are going to be critical. They’re entitled to their own opinion,” said Morgan.
He is happy with the kind of support they have got from fans, even though he knows that Sunday could be an “away game” for the hosts with a majority of the stands being filled by the Indian fans.
“I think the support that we’ve had from our fans and everybody around the country has been unbelievable. It has been outstanding. There’s been an enormous amount of good faith and goodwill going around,” he added.
England has batted well on the flat decks and piled up huge scores over the past four years and Morgan agreed that had been their calling card as far as bilateral series were concerned.
The skipper was also protective of his players and despite a below-par effort in the tournament so far. “No, I can’t fault the commitment or application that the guys have produced in every single game. Where we’ve let ourselves down as a group is adapting to conditions.
“It’s been a bigger challenge in this World Cup than previous bilateral series that we’ve played, so tomorrow is going to be exactly the same.”
He didn’t completely toe Bairstow’s line that pitches in World Cup are more suited to sub-continental teams but did admit that it has been a problem.
“As regards to conditions, they are what they are. We can’t control them. It’s not a talking point for us. It’s a matter of us being better at adapting to conditions.”
During the final few minutes, the British media grilled Morgan intensely but the England captain managed to keep his nerve. Asked if this is the biggest match in his captaincy, he replied: “No, I don’t think so. I think some of the most important ones that I’ve had to date, semi-final of the Champions Trophy. That was quite significant.
“If we hadn’t learned from that and progressed on wickets that had been more challenging, I probably wouldn’t have still been captain.”
But when it came to his future as skipper, Morgan’s answers were in monosyllables. Will the result of World Cup impact your or affect your decision to stay as captain, and his curt reply was a “no”.
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