Kolkata Knight Riders head coach Brendon McCullum has opined that the franchise’s captain Dinesh Karthik is ready to take the team forward. The former cricketer reveals that to assist the Indian cricketer in leadership they had bought Eoin Morgan and Pat Cumins in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 auction.
Dinesh Karthik’s appointment as KKR captain in 2018 had amazed everyone because he was not a stable player in international cricket. Even in the IPL, he had not constantly for a franchise. He featured for Delhi Daredevils, Mumbai Indians, Kings XI Punjab, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Gujarat Lions before the wicketkeeper was bagged by the Kolkata-based franchise.
Karthik showed his potential as a player and captain by leading them to the 2018 playoff. However, the last edition was not good for him after there was an inner spat between players. KKR’s mainstay Andre Russell had openly complained about Karthik.
But Brendon McCullum believes that DK is at a point in his leadership where he is ready to mature and to lead the team from the front in the upcoming edition. As per him, Karthik is best in all his abilities. He said that the Tamil Nadu-born cricketer is adaptable in any role.
“The team hasn’t quite got over the line, but I think DK is in that stage in his leadership where he’s almost ready to really mature and to really take ownership of the Knight Riders set up and back his judgement,” McCullum told kkr.in.
“Well, quite a few things. You’ve got to break DK down a little bit into different parts to understand this. I think first and foremost, wicketkeeping. He’s up there with the very best wicket keepers in India. Then you move on to his batting and he’s as good and as adaptable in any role.
Dinesh Karthik is not a big name in international cricket but McCullum that the wicketkeeper is a big star within the KKR franchise.
“He doesn’t come with perhaps, the stardom that some guys do and that’s just DK’s personality. But he’s a big star within the KKR franchise, he’s now been at the helm for a couple of years and he’s had some success,” McCullum added.
There’ll be a nice layer of leadership around Dinesh Karthik in IPL 2020: Brendon McCullum
For the upcoming IPL edition, the two-time IPL winners had bagged the service of Eoin Morgan and Pat Cummins, the two big international stars. McCullum opened up that they had bought the duo to assist DK in leadership. Morgan is England’s white-ball captain while Cummins is an Australia’s vice-captain.
“What we tried to do throughout the auction process as well was to provide him with some strong leadership on the field. We’ve obviously already got the likes of Andre Russell and Sunil Narine, but to have added Pat Cummins and Eoin Morgan in particular to that leadership group, and also provide him behind the scenes with some support staff who will be able to assist DK as well.
McCullum said that the team is looking to build a layer of leadership around Dinesh Karthik with senior players which would help Karthik lead the team better. He also said that the Indian cricketer would help the team members to bring the best out of themselves in the upcoming edition.
“I think there’ll be a nice layer of leadership around DK where he’s able to really prosper and touch all of the members of the Kolkata line up to try and get the very best out of themselves,” the former KKR opener added.
Kolkata Knight Riders last won the IPL title in 2014 under the captaincy of Gautam Gambhir. In the last edition, the team ended at the fifth position out of the eight teams.