Dinesh Karthik appointed captain of Kolkata Knight Riders for IPL 2018

Indian wicketkeeper-batsman, Dinesh Karthik has been appointed the captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise for the upcoming Indian Premier League season. The announcement was made by CEO Venky Mysore on a TV show on Star Sports.

"KKR has done well consistently in the last 10 years. The team has a great legacy. I am really happy and honoured to lead this side," Karthik said.

"We have a good blend of youth and experience. We are looking forward to working under coach Jacques Kallis. All the foreign players are really good too. I will try to take the team forward from where Gautam Gambhir left," he added.

In addition to this, Robin Uthappa was named the vice-captain of the squad.

"The principal we operated on was that we were looking for a long-term change. We were looking at someone who could continue to lead the side like Gautam," said Mysore about why they decided to go with Karthik as the captain.

The 32-year-old was bagged by KKR for Rs. 7.4 crore in the mega-auctions which were held in Bengaluru on 27th and 28th January.

There was a lot of speculation about who would become the captain of the side, with Chris Lynn also in contention along with Karthik and Uthappa. However, a shoulder injury has put a question mark on his availability for the IPL.

Karthik has quite a lot of captaincy experience, having captained Tamil Nadu in the domestic circuit in the past. He was also the captain of the India Red side that won the Duleep Trophy last year.