Instinctive leadership will work for free-spirited KXIP, reckons Morgan

It took 10 seasons for English cricket to make a strong presence in the Indian Premier League, with the likes of Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes and Tymal Mills taking home huge sums at player auction. While they were making news, Kings XI Punjab quietly secured the services of Eoin Morgan for Rs 2 crore. 

England's limited-overs skipper Morgan isn't a new entrant in the IPL. He has been part of two championship-winning sides: Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad. Apart from his explosive batting that only beefs up a strong middle-order that the Mohali-based franchise has, Morgan also brings in a bit of experience of what it takes to be in an IPL-winning side, a much-needed answer that KXIP need at the moment.

In order to resurrect their chances, they have gone in for a coaching change yet again. But what has grabbed the interest more is the appointment of Glenn Maxwell as their captain this season. The Australian all-rounder has negligible leadership experience, and if his individual game has anything noteworthy, scribes have often described it as 'careless' and 'immature'. If that wasn't enough, he will be teaming up with Virender Sehwag, who is the unofficial head coach of the side.

Morgan believes that having the duo at the helm will help the team that Kings XI Punjab has. He explained how different individuals react differently to different kinds of leadership - whether it is instinctive or well thought out ideas. "It depends on the player, on the team," Morgan told Cricbuzz on Thursday(April 6). "I think for the team that we have, it will work. Maybe, for another side, it may not work. Different individuals react differently to different styles of coaching and leadership. For the free-spirited team that we have, I think, it will work," Morgan added.

Maxwell may be quite inexperienced in terms of leadership, but with the likes of Darren Sammy and Morgan himself, who led their respective teams to the final of the previous T20 WC - there isn't any dearth of voices that are bound to come his way. While he may be coming in with his own ideas, would getting too many inputs turn into a noise that he would rather avoid? Morgan doesn't believe that it will be a disadvantage.

"It (having many leaders in the squad) works as a big advantage. Last year, Sunrisers Hyderabad had three or four captains in the side, and it helped," said Morgan, referring to his time with the 2016 IPL winners, who also had Kane Williamson and Shikhar Dhawan to aid David Warner in decision-making. "You just have to utilise it in the right way to make a difference, especially in a tournament like the IPL. We have that and we need to use it to our advantage."

Maxwell's task will be to work around finding the right combination. Even as they have some of the best foreign T20 batsmen, there is a dearth of quality Indian batsmen, especially following Murali Vijay's injury. Nonetheless, Morgan believes batting is their strength and something that they need to take advantage of.

"The batting line-up is our X-factor, we have a very explosive middle-order. We have got (David) Miller and (Glenn) Maxwell, (Shaun) Marsh, (Hashim) Amla and Manan Vohra as well. It is a big positive for us.

"We have a really big batting line-up, with batsmen wanting to play their shots," he added. "And with Viru (Virender Sehwag) as the coach, everyone realises that he is very relaxed. He backs the players, and wants everyone to play with freedom and enjoy their cricket, and play the kind of cricket that everyone does on a day-to-day basis."

However, KXIP's bowling front looks weak - a factor that Morgan doesn't ignore but believes is not a matter of grave concern. While they lack options in the spin department, the pace attack is strong in number but lacks experience.

"You can't have everything, it's just impossible. You see that in sports around the world that teams buy in everything and it doesn't work. You see that in football all the time, you see that in different franchises in cricket. It doesn't necessarily happen. What's most important is that we gel well as a side and use our strength to our advantage and we move on," Morgan concluded.