Having done his round across different franchise set-ups in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Dinesh Karthik says Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), of which he is the current captain, has been able to create the best environment for players and the team to flourish.
Karthik, who joined and replaced Gautam Gambhir at the helm in 2018, said the credit for that shall go to the franchise's owners and the support they've provided to the cricketers and the team management to do their own thing without being pressurised all the time for results.
Read Also: Emirates Cricket Board receives the letter of intent from BCCI to host IPL 2020 in UAE
The wicketkeeper batsman talked in effusive praise of KKR co-owner Shah Rukh Khan and Managing Director Venky Mysore on 'The RK Show' on Youtube.
"I think I have come to probably one of the most balanced and loving franchises," said Karthik. "I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with KKR, easily the best franchise I have played for, in terms of ownership and the way they have taken care of all the players."
“Only when you want to come back and play for the franchise that the extra effort that you need to give when push comes to shove will come out."
"And a lot of it is driven by Shah Rukh Khan and Venky Mysore. When you have wonderful people like that it makes playing the sport easy," he added.
"With a lot of love and affection also comes a different sort of pressure, where you want to do stuff for them. You want to show that you are repaying the amount of faith they have in you. It’s a very positive thing."
Even though results didn't quite KKR's way under Karthik's leadership in the last two years, the team still stuck with him as captain ahead of IPL 2020, that is despite the presence of England's 2019 World Cup skipper Eoin Morgan in the camp, which was a huge vote of confidence.
"The one thing that goes with being with other teams is you see how the owners, how they treat players, how they react to wins and losses," he said.
"Over a period of time, I have realised that KKR is the best when it comes to the handling of players, handling of wins and losses, and overall camaraderie and the relationship they tend to have through the year, irrespective of whether the IPL is going on or not."
On the experience of leading KKR, Karthik said it's one of the best things to have happened in his cricketing career.
"I think it came at a time when I felt it was the right time," he said. "The first year went great, the second year – when it came to results – it wasn’t as good as we wanted because we couldn’t qualify [for the playoffs], but overall, the journey has been terrific. The boys have responded well to me, and it should translate into results soon."
