Eoin Morgan's injury during the recent ODI series against India was a cause for concern not only for the England team but also his IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
The England captain required four stitches in his right hand after tearing the webbing between his thumb and index finger while fielding in the first ODI against India in Pune. That ruled him out for the remainder of the series and put a question mark on his preparations for the IPL that starts on April 9.
But on Wednesday, Morgan revealed his recovery is on schedule and he expects to resume fielding by the end of the week.
"I feel a lot better than I did a week ago," Morgan said during a virtual conference to announce a partnership between KKR and esports platform Mobile Premier League.
"The plan is to remove the stitches tomorrow and progress my batting in the coming days and over the week. And fielding at the back end of that. Given the timeframe that I have, it is looking very good."
That was not the only good bit of news for Morgan. The performances of KKR young guns – batsman Shubman Gill and pacer Prasidh Krishna – during the series against Australia and England respectively filled the captain with confidence.
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IPL all-time records
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Gill looked at ease opening the innings against the Aussie quicks during the Test series Down Under while Krishna impressed with his pace in the white-ball series against the Englishmen.
"It was great to see Prasidh represent his family and India. Shubman is in a different phase than Prasidh. He has gone and experienced an overseas tour, and one of the more difficult tours of Australia. And came back with a huge amount of confidence from a successful campaign. It is an extremely healthy pool of Indian players to be a part of," Morgan added.
A talented pool of players is something Kolkata is not short of, especially in the spin department. They already have slow bowlers like Varun Chakravarthy, Shakib Al Hasan and Kuldeep Yadav. And they have added veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh to the mix.
"Adding Harbhajan to our squad has strengthened us in a really good way. If you look at our spin department, on paper it is one the best in the tournament. You look at the options we have and the conditions we will play, particularly in Chennai which notoriously can turn ... and raise the eyebrows of our spinners," Morgan said.
The England captain will be leading the franchise from the start this time, having been named leader midway through the season last year in the UAE after taking over from Dinesh Karthik. Flexibility in their plans is what Morgan sees as a big strength.
"We will get together towards the end of the week. We will discuss our plans and thoughts. And talk about our strengths as a team. The one positive amongst others last year was the versatility in our middle order. The flexibility to promote Sunil [Narine], myself or DK [Karthik]. The strength in the middle order is... if we play well not a lot of teams will enjoy playing against us."
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
More on Quran memorisation:
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
The specs: 2019 Lincoln MKC
Price, base / as tested: Dh169,995 / Dh192,045
Engine: Turbocharged, 2.0-litre, in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power: 253hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 389Nm @ 2,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 10.7L / 100km
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Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
