T20 World Cup: England to join West Indies in taking a knee in opening match

The England cricket team will be facing defending T20 World Cup champions West Indies in their first Super 12 fixture of the T20 World Cup. The England vs West Indies match between both teams is scheduled to be played on October 23 and ahead of the fixture England skipper Eoin Morgan has made a major announcement regarding a decision taken by the team in support of the West Indies cricket.

England vs West Indies: Players to take a knee 

While talking during the video news conference on Tuesday, Eoin Morgan declared that the England team will be taking a knee alongside the West Indies ahead of their T20 World Cup opener in Dubai. The anti-racism gesture was performed by both teams when the West Indies team had toured England for a three-Test series in 2020. Morgan had also performed the 'taking the knee' gesture when England played a one-day international series against Ireland. Morgan in his interview said,

"We have heard from the West Indies that they will be taking a knee and we will be joining them for the first game."

Morgan in his interview also said that England had been holding talks with the ICC about the possibility of repeating the protest during the T20 World Cup. He said, "games going on from there, we’ve been speaking to the ICC about the potential moment of unity before the game that we’ve been doing as part of our own piece at home. It hasn’t been cleared up whether that’s a possibility yet."

T20 World Cup: Eoin Morgan ready to step down as England skipper 

After missing England's warm-up defeat by India on Monday, Eoin Morgan is set to lead the side against New Zealand on Wednesday. Ahead of the New Zealand clash, Morgan spoke about how England's chances of winning the T20 title will increase in his absence.  According to Espncricinfo report, Eoin Morgan said, "It's always something I've said - it's always an option. I'm not going to stand in the way of a team winning the World Cup. I've been short of runs but my captaincy has been pretty good, as it goes. So, yes is the answer".

He further said, "Not being a bowler and being a bit older and not contributing as much in the field, I've loved the role of captain. You get two bites at the cherry impacting the game. As regards my batting, I wouldn't be standing here if I hadn't come out of every bad run of form that I'd ever had. The nature of T20 cricket and where I bat means I always have to take quite high-risk options and I've come to terms with that. It's just something you deal with, it's the nature of the job so I'm going to continue taking those risks if the team dictates they need them."

Image: ICC/ T20 World Cup/ Twitter