Ever since Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) didn’t retain skipper Gautam Gambhir during the IPL 2018 auction, speculations were rife on who would succeed him in the coveted job. There was no inkling regarding who would take up the top job. With a few options — Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik and Chris Lynn (and perhaps Vinay Kumar) — available, KKR have finally went ahead with Uthappa. The franchise announced their skipper on national television.
Robin Uthappa was a part of KKR’s winning side in 2014. With 660 runs at 44, he also won the Orange Cap. Overall, Uthappa has featured in 58 games for KKR.
With his experience and knack of providing flourishing starts, Uthappa will be expected to fill in the big shoes of Gambhir. It would be interesting to see how the added responsibility turns his attacking style of play.
In an interview with Star Sports, Sourav Ganguly revealed Uthappa as his first choice: ”When I look at the current KKR squad, I feel Uthappa is the best player to lead the team. Though the team has experienced campaigners in Karthik and Lynn but Uthappa has been with the team for over four years now and he’s had considerable experience in dealing with the dynamics of the side, not to mention that he’s a fan favourite as well. An aggressive batsman himself, he will be the right successor to the legacy that KKR has come to build over the last decade.”
Riders will open their campaign against Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 8 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
KKR squad: Dinesh Karthik (wk), Robin Uthappa (wk), Chris Lynn, Cameron Delport, Shubman Gill, Ishank Jaggi, Nitish Rana, Apoorv Wankhade, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Javon Searles, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Vinay Kumar, Sunil Narine, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi.
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