'Harbhajan Singh's addition has strengthened us' - Eoin Morgan opines on KKR's spin department ahead of IPL 2021

There is very little doubt that on paper, the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kolkata Knight Riders have one of the best spin bowling line-ups including the likes of Varun Chakravarthy, Harbhajan Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Sunil Narine, and Shakib Al Hasan. Having such quality spinners on their side can give headache to the team-management and skipper on whom to chose in the playing XI and whom to leave out.

Speaking about the spin attack, the KKR skipper Eoin Morgan reckoned that the addition of Harbhajan is a great boost for the side. The Knight Riders are scheduled to play three league games at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai and it is a well-known fact that the pitch at the venue assists the spinners to a large extent.

Thus Morgan believes that spinners will play a major role in the team doing good in the upcoming 14th edition of the IPL, which is scheduled to start from April 9 with the inaugural game between defending champions Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore.

“I think adding Harbhajan to our squad has strengthened us in a really good way. If you look at our spin department as a whole, on paper it is one of the best in the tournament. That is factual.

“You look at the options we have and the conditions we might play in, particularly in Chennai, which notoriously can turn and raise the eyebrows of our spinners. Which is hard to do! It is an area that, if we play well in the tournament, I think our spinners would have bowled well and contributed in that regard,” Morgan stated in a virtual press conference on Wednesday.

Analysis of KKR’s spin line-up

Though Kolkata have a celebrated and star-studded spin attack, there are matters of concerns lurking around. Their ace spinner Varun Chakravarthy has been dealing with fitness issues for quite some time now. Moreover, Kuldeep has been struggling to find his rhythm and had gone wicketless in the two ODIs he played against England.

Harbhajan had last played competitive cricket during IPL 2019 for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and has been out of action since then. Bangladesh’s Shakib has also not played much cricket lately while Narine didn’t have the best of runs in IPL 2020 hosted in the United Arab Emirates.