Kolkata Knight Riders captain Dinesh Karthik on Sunday acknowledged that he has an onerous task of replacing a very successful Gautam Gambhir, but asserted that he has it in him to steer the team to at least the playoffs of the 11th season of the Indian Premier League starting Saturday.
Under Gambhir, KKR won the title in 2012 and 2014, and also made the Play-offs three times (2011, 2016 and 2017). However, the KKR think tank chose not to retain the opener and handed the reins of the team to the Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper-batsman, bought for Rs 7.4 crore in the auction.
The 32-year-old Karthik has a wealth of experience too, having played for as many as five different franchises – Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians, Kings XI Punjab, Delhi Daredevils and Gujarat Lions. But he admitted that Gambhir has left a benchmark for him, saying that his achievements with the Kolkata-based team are “phenomenal”.
“Being a leader of the team, the management will expect from me the same,” he was quoted as saying. “I’m aware of the expectations. Yes, there would be pressure. As a captain, you’re expected to at least go to the playoffs, that’s the least anybody can expect. I think I’m at a stage where I can handle it and get the best out of the team.”
Karthik looked a transformed batsman in the tri-nation final against Bangladesh in Colombo last month when his last-ball six sealed a nervy win for India.
“It’s been close to 10 days now since that innings, things have moved on, people have moved on,” he said. “We have a new bunch of boys. It was a great game as I’ve said. When we play Bangladesh, it’s a different kind of pressure. If you win, you are like ‘okay you’ve won’, but if you lose it’s like ‘wake up, what you doing’ types.
“We had a good start, it dipped in the middle. I just had to hit boundaries when I got in. I was lucky on that day. We had a good season, and for us not win that game would not have been nice to end the series. It was a great feeling.”
Karthik hinted that he might promote himself up the batting order when they open their IPL 11 campaign against Royal Challengers Bangalore at home. “Obviously I will bat at different position than what I did in the Indian game. IPL is about dealing with tricky situation, handling pressure. It’s just a week to go and I don’t think I will treat myself any differently. Everybody is here to do their best and I’m no different. Everybody has a role to play,” he said.
KKR open their IPL 11 campaign with a home match against Royal Challengers Bangalore next Sunday.
With inputs from PTI
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