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IPL 2018 : Dinesh Karthik named as Kolkata Knight riders' captain
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Dinesh Karthik has been appointed the new captain of Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of the 11th edition of the Indian Premier League, the franchise announced on Sunday (March 4). The 32-year-old, who was picked up by Knight Riders for INR 7.4 Crore in this year's mega auction, was one of the front-runners to lead the side after the franchise decided not to retain/buy back their long-serving captain Gautam Gambhir.
Robin Uthappa, who was also among the top contenders for the job, has been named as the vice-captain.
Karthik has previous experience of captaining Tamil Nadu in domestic cricket. He led Tamil Nadu to a title triumph in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2009-10. He was also the captain of the India Red side that won the Duleep Trophy last year. In the T20 format, Karthik led TUTI Patriots to the Tamil Nadu Premier League title in the 2016 edition.
"It is an honour to represent Kolkata Knight Riders, one of the most successful franchises in the IPL and I look forward to this new challenge. I am excited about the squad that has been assembled, which has a great combination of experience and youth. I will do my best to represent brand KKR and the millions of KKR fans," the newly appointed captain said.
Uthappa, who has played for the franchise since 2014, observed that his association with Karthik goes back in time to Under-17 days and he was looking forward to his new role. "DK and I know each other from our U-17 playing days; I'm really excited to work with him.
"I'm sure all of Kolkata will be right behind DK, as will I and as will the rest of the team. I'm going to be available to DK anytime he needs me, always ready to share my inputs. DK and I have known each other since our Under-17 days, so looking forward to working with him," he said.
"I think the thing that stood out is that Karthik is at the age now in his career where he's got the best years of his career in front of him," assistant coach Simon Katich noted.
"He's been involved in the IPL for 10 years. He's got a fantastic domestic record captaining Tamil Nadu in the T20 tournament there. I think he's got a 72% win-rate which is outstanding as a T20 skipper. And obviously, the other thing about him is that he's got a lot of respect from the players given what he's achieved on the field and what he's achieved as a captain domestically. He knows the conditions extremely well. He knows all the overseas players inside out having played so well over the last 10 years and this is a great time to give that opportunity to him and see what he can do," he added.
Karthik played for Gujarat Lions in the 2017 IPL, compiling 361 runs at an impressive average of 36.1. In the sixth edition of IPL, he played a key role in helping Mumbai Indians clinch the coveted trophy by scoring 510 runs and effecting 14 dismissals. The veteran 'keeper-batsman, who has also played for Kings XI Punjab, Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore, has composed 2903 runs at a strike rate of 125.94 and effected 114 dismissals in his IPL career spanning 152 matches. He has also played 228 T20s, apart from 14 internationals for India, with 4441 runs and 186 dismissals to his name.
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