Dinesh Karthik: Most underrated captain this IPL season

Dinesh Karthik was selected to lead two-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) after a lot of buzz. The seasoned Indian wicket-keeper batsman was picked up for Rs 7.4 crore. Though the rumor of Robin Uthappa’s name as Gautam Gambhir’s successor was gaining grounds, Karthik eventually got the nod from the team management.

In a recent interview, DK opened up about his new role and said that it was tough to replace former KKR captain Gautam Gambhir. He is well-aware of the franchise’s expectations from him. He said, “Being a leader of the team, the management will expect from me the same. Yes, there will be pressure. As a captain, you are expected to at least go to the playoffs, that’s the least anybody can expect. I am at a stage where I can handle it and get the best out of the team.”

“I will bat at a different position than where I batted for India. IPL is about dealing with tricky situations and handling pressure. Everybody is here to do his best, and I am no different”, he added.

Karthik is an experienced cricketer. He played a lot of First-class cricket before making his debut in International cricket back in 2004. He has played for three IPL teams and now he is fulfilling his duties as the skipper of KKR this IPL season will great wit and composure. He proved his mettle as the captain in the match against RCB on 8th April to notch up an impressive four-wicket win for his side.

He went in there with a sound strategy and a couple of tricks up his sleeve in the form of Nitish Rana and Sunil Narine. He sent Narine to open the innings and this decision proved to be a piece of good fortune. He called up the part-timer Nitish Rana to bowl the 15th over when AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli were in wreaking havoc.

These decisions proved that as a captain, Karthik is capable enough to take calculated risks in the nick of time and at the same time, it proves that he trusts his players and can make a cohesive team out of 11 players. The last game for KK proved that Karthik has great support from the team as well as the management.

As far as leadership experience quotient goes, this is not the first time DK is carrying the Captain tag on his jersey. He has led in 19 T-20 matches so far. He led Tamil Nadu to the Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2009-2010 and captained the Albert TUTI Patriots to the Tamil Nadu Premier League title in 2016. He was the captain of the India Red squad last year that won the Duleep Trophy.

In a recent match against Bangladesh, Karthik played the role of a finisher with a struggling Vijay Shankar on the other side when he scored 29 runs off 8 deliveries to help India win. This time for KKR, he played a mature and composed inning of 35 runs and carried KKR to the finish line seven balls to spare.

Karthik knows that more than anything, success in the IPL comes when the team functions well as a unit. By focusing on getting every team member to act together with full commitment, Karthik has led KKR to kick-off IPL-11 in style and it will be interesting how things will turn out for KKR under his leadership.