Kolkata Knight Riders had made some big changes to their squad in the IPL 2020 auction which was held in December 2019. They let go of a veteran like Robin Uthappa and bought England’s World Cup 2019 winning captain Eoin Morgan.
Also, Brendon McCullum was named the head coach of the franchise after it failed to make it into the playoffs in IPL 2019 while deciding to continue with Dinesh Karthik as captain.
Both McCullum and Morgan have previously played for the Kolkata-based franchise, with McCullum famously hitting 158* in the very first match of the IPL in 2008 against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Dinesh Karthik is excited to work with both of them and hence wants the IPL 2020 to happen, which has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
IPL: Dinesh Karthik ready to play in empty stadiums, says ‘grew up’ playing without crowds
“One of the reasons why I want this IPL to happen is to be able to work with Brendon and Eoin Morgan. These are the two people I genuinely want to rub shoulders with. I can learn so much from these two people,” Karthik said on the latest episode of ESPNCricinfo One on One #Workfromhome.
He also talked about the promising talent Shubman Gill, he said, "He is a special talent. He managed to showcase his skills in the limited opportunity that he got opening the batting."
Further, he felt that the franchise needed to give him complete freedom. "As a franchise, we should give him complete freedom and let him express himself on-field and let him enjoy his time there. It's a beautiful journey. He has the potential for being with us for many years,” Karthik added.
"KKR is, without doubt, the best franchise I have played for and I feel honored to lead this team. In my first year at KKR, we did very well, we almost made it to the final but lost in semis. It was a great season, we had a lot of young guys and we did our best to push forward the result. I need to do something special and help them cross the line," he said.
Commenting on what translates into success at IPL, Karthik said: "It is a very corporate atmosphere at IPL. You either persevere or perish. The teams that are successful tend to keep it consistent because they know the formula and keep trusting the process in the hope that it will give results. Then there are teams that are yet to succeed.”
(IANS inputs)
