Tributes have poured in from all corners after Eoin Morgan announced his retirement from international cricket on Tuesday. Morgan, who led England to the 2019 World Cup title, hung his boots after a torrid run of form. England all-rounder Moeen Ali was all praise for Morgan, labelling the latter as the country’s “greatest white-ball captain ever”. Moeen, who has played under the captaincy of Morgan and former India captain MS Dhoni, compared the leadership style of both players, saying that there isn’t much difference in terms of their approach.
“I have played under him (Morgan). I have played under MS Dhoni as well. There is not much difference between both of them in terms of the characteristics – very calm, very loyal to their players. Brilliant captain, brilliant player,” Moeen, who plays for the Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings in IPL, said during an interaction on Sports Tak.
“He (Morgan) has almost taken England from the dark days to very good days. We were horrendous in white-ball cricket before that and he changed the mindset of the players. Actually, the way England are playing in Test cricket is because of him. He showed that if you have the mindset, you can play fearless cricket, which we are playing now. He is the greatest white-ball captain we’ve ever had,” added Mooen.
Morgan is widely credited for bringing about a drastic change in how England played their white-ball cricket and his captaincy saw England winning the 50-over World Cup in 2019 and the side also made it to the finals of the 2016 T20 World Cup.
The side had also reached the semi-finals of the 2017 Champions Trophy and the T20 World Cup in 2021. The now 35-year-old had made his ODI debut in 2006 as he first played for Ireland while his T20 debut came four years later in 2009 while playing for England.
Morgan, who started his international cricket career with Ireland, has played 225 ODIs and 115 T20Is for England, which is a record for the Three Lions.
He has to date scored 7,701 runs in 248 ODIs at an average of 39.29 with 14 centuries and 47 fifties. He has also scored 2,458 runs in 115 T20Is.
Morgan’s Test numbers are a little underwhelming as he was sidelined after scoring 700 runs in 16 Tests at an average of 30.43.
