Difficult to bat up with so many match-winners in the side: Morgan

Morgan scored 44 off 18 but couldn't take KKR over the line © BCCI/IPL

Eoin Morgan, England's World Cup-winning captain, is currently sporting a different hat - that of a pressure-bearer and finisher in the Kolkata Knight Riders line-up. He has had to be flexible in terms of batting position, but has responded well to a range of situations in this season, even though he hasn't got his side over the line on every occasion.

Against Delhi Capitals, a game KKR went on to lose, Morgan was held back and Andre Russell sent ahead of him to up the ante in a mammoth 229-run chase. The southpaw, however, defended the team management's decision.

"When you look at our batting line-up, we have a number of match-winners, so it's very difficult to go up the order, particularly when you have a world-class all-rounder in Andre Russell. He is an incredible striker, and when he comes up the order, obviously everybody else has to shift down a little bit." said Morgan. "We went from a position of being behind the 8-ball, because Delhi bowled well, to a position of strength and looking like winning it. It just wasn't meant to be."

When asked more specific questions about the batting order, particularly about Narine opening the batting, Morgan maintained that Narine was a match-winner at the top of the order.

"Sunil is the type of player who can produce match-winning innings. It's never been a string of scores, over the years, but more about his impact in a game. He always takes the positive option, which summarises how we want to play our cricket," he said.