IPL 2018: 3 captaincy candidates for Kolkata Knight Riders

The 2018 IPL Auction turned out to be a big event for the entire cricketing fraternity around the globe. Franchises made a dash to stock up their teams for the upcoming 11th season of IPL. Many jaw-dropping bids were made for overseas and Indian players in the two-day auction.

Rajasthan Royals shot into the limelight by bagging the two biggest buys of the auction, England all-rounder Ben Stokes at Rs 12.5 crore and Indian pacer Jaydev Unadkat at Rs 11.5 Ccore. However, many franchises were able to steal a few marquee players at a bargain price - like Faf Du Plessis (Chennai Super Kings), Colin Munro (Delhi Daredevils).

Although Kolkata Knight Riders had spent all the money in their purse, they were only able to procure 19 players into the squad (This eventually, turned out to be the least number of players acquired by any franchise in the auction). KKR did not pick up any big-ticket Indian player into their squad. It also missed opportunities to hold on the likes of Manish Pandey and Surya Kumar Yadav.

The biggest challenge that lie for the team is to select the Captain of the squad. Gautam Gambhir, who led the franchise as captain to title victories, will not be part of the squad this season. It will take some extra effort for any current player to fit into the massive shoes of Gambhir.

Let us have a detailed look at the three most probable options for the management to pick from the 19-men squad.

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3. Robin Uthappa

Robin Uthappa is one of the best openers of IPL

The KKR franchise used the Right to Match (RTM) on Robin Uthappa when the Mumbai Indians were all set to acquire him into their squad at a price of Rs 6.40 Crore.The right-handed batsman has been a stalwart for the Knights over the years.

Since his debut in IPL, he has played 149 matches with 4 different teams and scored 3735 runs. He is widely known as Mr. Consistent among the KKR fans for his record of scoring more than 40 runs in ten consecutive T20 matches (the only player to do so).

Uthappa’s experience and consistency over the years in the KKR make him one of the front-runners for the captaincy of the team.

2. Andre Russell

Andre Russell making a comeback after one year of ban

KKR management retained Andre Russell before the IPL Auction along with his West Indian teammate Sunil Narine.

The West Indies’ big-hitting all-rounder has turned out to be a real game-changer for KKR over the years making him a fan favorite as well. Russell flourished in the 2015 season scoring 326 runs with an overwhelming strike rate of 192.89. He carried his good form into the 2016 season where he was particularly impressive with the ball, claiming 15 wickets in 12 matches.

The West Indian has also been part of the other prominent T20 leagues all over the world such as the Big Bash, Bangladesh Premier League, and Pakistan Premier League.

Russel ability to influence the game makes him a strong contender for the captaincy of the squad.

1.Dinesh Karthik

Dinesh Karthik

KKR acquired the multi-tasking T20 player Dinesh Karthik at a massive amount of Rs. 7.40 Crore beating MI in the auction. It was no surprise to see Dinesh Karthik attracting such a lucrative bid as he is part of the current senior national team.

The veteran wicketkeeper-batsman has played 152 matches scoring 2903 runs over the decade of IPL history. In the past two years, Karthik has performed consistently throughout the season, scoring 335 runs in 2016, followed by 361 runs in 2017.

In terms of captaincy, Karthik had led the Tuti Patriots team in the Tamil Nadu premier league 2016 and 2017. He has also led the Tamil Nadu team on several occasions in the Ranji Trophy. Karthik was also named as the vice-captain of Delhi Daredevils during the 7th edition of IPL.

Clearly, it seems that the wicketkeeper drew the spotlight on him to lead the side from the front this season.