'He has very seldom delivered in his entire career': Gavaskar says RR's 16-crore buy 'hasn't lived up to expectations'
The star all-rounder from Rajasthan Royals, who was picked for a whopping ₹16.25 crore at the auction, scored just 67 runs from 11 matches, and Gavaskar was clearly not impressed.
Rajasthan Royals had another night to forget as they dished out one of their poorest shows in IPL 2021. RR, needing a win to stay alive in the race of the Playoffs, were dismissed for 85 – the lowest total of this season as KKR romped them by 86 runs. Although RR were no longer in the race of the Playoffs, everyone expected a good fight for them in their final round match, but it wasn't to be.
Chasing 172 was never going to be easy against an in-from team like KKR, but RR were pretty much all over the place. Three players could not even open their accounts, with Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anuj Rawat and star all-rounder Chris Morris were dismissed for ducks as Shivam Mavi claiming 4/21 and a returning Lockie Ferguson took 3/18. In fact, Morris has been one of RR's biggest disappointments in IPL 2021, scoring just 67 runs from 11 matches and picking 15 wickets.
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar was not impressed with Morris' show in this season, slamming the all-rounder for his underwhelming performance. Morris was picked up for ₹16.25 crore at the IPL 2021 auction – the highest and costliest purchase ever in history – but one possibly couldn't argue with Gavaskar as the South Africa all-rounder was clearly off the mark and by some distance.
"There were so high expectations of him when Rajasthan picked him and I know it’s always not possible to live up to the high expectations. He is just the kind of cricketer who has always had the promise but very seldom has delivered in his entire cricketing career. It is not just about this IPL. There have been high hopes of him when he has played for South Africa but he hasn’t quite lived up to expectations," Gavaskar said on Star Sports.
The reason Gavaskar feels that Morris has not been able to utilise his full potential is due to the lack of temperament. While Gavaskar did not question Morris' talent, he feels the SA all-rounder has never been able to stand out as such because he couldn't keep his temperament on the same level as his talent.
"Maybe there are fitness or temperament issues becase often you have the talent but not the temperament and that doesn't help you. You might succeed in the odd game but if you want to be consistently successful, your temperament and talent needs to be married," the former India batsman pointed out.