Chris Morris: A heavy metal, no-holds-barred cricketer

Can smack the ball hard. Can hurry the batsmen with his pace and bounce. Can be a live-wire in the field. If Chris Morris were to be described in one phrase it would be no-holds-barred. If Chris Morris were to be a footballer he would have been the perfect embodiment of Jurgen Klopp’s Heavy metal style of football. He breathes in and breathes out every bit of that Protea fire we come to expect of South African players.

When Morris first burst onto the scene in 2012, his lanky, tall, thin figure would succeed in deceiving a casual viewer; for he would hustle and bustle his way onto the bowling crease, and with his rapid pace strike fear in the batsman’s heart. In the now-defunct Champions League, Morris made his mark as he gave a staggering account of his abilities playing for the Lions from South Africa. Playing in his own backyard, in familiar conditions, Morris would turn out to be a handful to deal with for the opposition batsmen to say the least. With the bat, he could tonk the ball long and hard. He was the perfect prototypical T20 player.

Bit of a latecomer into the game, Morris stature grew rapidly on the international scene. A platform like the CLT20 was the perfect stage for him to showcase his talents, and he soon started grabbing eyeballs across the world. Morris was a hot property in the following IPL auction in 2013, his all-round abilities, and his performances fresh on the minds fetching him a whopping 3.3 crores in his first-ever IPL auction. Over the years, Morris' reputation as a T20 performer has grown and grown, with the 7 crores spent by the Delhi Daredevils in the 2016 auction a testimony to the fact.

Morris would not be left behind in the international arena either. His performances in T20s resulting in international call-up. It took Morris less than 2 years from his domestic T20 debut to break onto the international scene. South African team management well aware of his abilities introduced him to the national setup. Morris, in an international career spanning eight years and counting, has played all the formats for the team.

A sportsman’s career is never a simple, upward trajectory, and Morris had his downs too. Morris in his own words had stopped enjoying the game, “It was really difficult to wake up and enjoy my cricket”, he said in an interview with ESPNCricinfo back in 2015. But, he soon found his footing in international cricket and rediscovered his love for the game. “I've found my love for the game again, properly. I'm embracing the big moments in the games and just having fun again. A lot of things happened in the past, where in the big scheme of life, you had to remember that cricket is still only a game. Yes, it pays the bills and you are representing big names and your country, but what originally got you to play the game was the fun and the love of it. That has been a big motivation for me,” Morris had said.

In the auction for the 2020 edition of the IPL, Morris was hot property again. He sparked a fierce bidding war at the auction tables again, as he commanded a whopping INR 10 Crores. His services will come in extremely handy for the RCB as the management looks to nail the team balance. A delighted Mike Hesson said right after the auction, "Chris Morris is a really good addition, in terms of being a three-in-one cricketer; he can bowl upfront, can bowl at the death, he's got some power with the bat as well.” The Protean is the latest addition to the galaxy of RCB stars and will be one of the key protagonists in RCB’s 2020 campaign of the Dream 11 IPL.