The 21-year-old, who missed the last edition of the IPL due to a back injury, has picked five wickets in as many matches in the ongoing IPL, equalling his tally of the 2018 season, where he bagged five in nine. But the KKR management thought it would be best to give him a break for the KXIP match.

Dinesh Karthik wins the toss and KKR will bat first in Abu Dhabi.@KKRiders changes: Prasidh Krishna in for Shivam Mavi.

@lionsdenkxip changes: Chris Jordan in for Sheldon Cottrell.#KXIPvKKR | #IPL2020 pic.twitter.com/sGoWFG9h3V

— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) October 10, 2020

Dinesh Karthik revealed that Mavi was kept out of the match to “rest a couple of niggles”. “It is important to bring a bowler like Prasidh [Krishna] into the playing XI, and at the same time it gives Shivam Mavi time to rest a couple of niggles,” the KKR captain said at the toss.

But as the KKR XI was revealed, a screenshot of an Instagram post liked by Mavi which suggested that Karthik should be replaced as the captain by Eoin Morgan started doing the rounds.

[caption id=”attachment_178751″ align=”alignnone” width=”800″] The Instagram post liked by Shivam Mavi[/caption]

The post featured comments from S Sreesanth, the former India quick, who had called for the appointment of “World Cup-winning captain” Morgan as the KKR captain.

He had tweeted: “Genuinely feel @Eoin16 [Eoin Morgan] should lead the side, (surly not*dk kolaimandaaaiii (suggestive word for fool), World Cup winning captain should surly lead ipl side.I hope #kkr looks at this issue.nd win ✌🏻they need a leader who will lead from front like Rohit, Dhoni or Virat..what a player #ipl #kkr #cricket.”

Genuinely feel @Eoin16 should lead the side,(surly not*dk kolaimandaaaiii🐙
)World Cup winning captain should surly lead ipl side.I hope #kkr looks at this issue.nd win ✌🏻they need a leader who will lead from front like Rohit ,Dhoni or Virat..what a player #ipl #kkr #cricket

— Sreesanth (@sreesanth36) October 3, 2020