'I'm not expecting anything. I think fans and supporters up and down the country will have different reactions, as they will around the world. So we'll see,' Eoin Morgan said at the pre-match press conference ahead of England-Australia World Cup 2019 game
London: India captain Virat Kohli won millions of hearts and came in for high praise from cricketers for the way he stopped fans from booing Australian batsman Steve Smith during their ICC World Cup 2019 match. However, England skipper Eoin Morgan will not be doing the same when they face the Australians at Lord’s tomorrow (June 25).
Smith and David Warner have been targeted by English crowds following their involvement in the ball-tampering scandal last year. The pair was handed 12-month suspensions. Now, they are back playing for the country.
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During India’s match against Australia on June 9, Indian fans had booed Smith. Kohli had stepped in to stop them and asked the supporters to applaud the Australian. Later, Kohli had apologised to Smith on the field.
Ahead of Tuesday’s clash between World Cup favourites England and Australia, Morgan was asked whether he would give any message to the fans and he said “no”.
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"I'm not expecting anything. I think fans and supporters up and down the country will have different reactions, as they will around the world. So we'll see," Morgan said at the pre-match press conference on Monday (June 24).
"Supporters pay a lot of money, they do. And sport is beautiful in many ways, because it attracts people from far and wide. And you often see crowds offering support to both sets of players in the grounds," he added.
Morgan was asked, “do you see it as your role in any way to give any kind of indication or instruction to the crowd about how they should behave with the Australians?” for which he said, “No. No”.
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Talking about the match, Morgan insisted that it was still not a must-win game for them. “No, it's not must-win yet. We don't need to win every game to get to the semifinal. It's another game where we try and produce a performance that's worthy of inning at lords against Australia.”
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