IPL 2018: 5 contenders to be the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders
For the past seven seasons, the IPL franchise from the eastern metropolis boasted of a standout captain in Gautam Gambhir, under whom they won two titles in 2012 and 2014 respectively.
However, as per reports, Gambhir had himself instructed the KKR management ahead of the 2018 auctions to not retain him for this season. In the wake of that, here we list out 5 possible contenders for the vacant captaincy post.
Dinesh Karthik
The 32-year-old wicket-keeper batsman, who played for the Gujarat Lions in the previous edition, was bought by the Knight Riders for a big amount of Rs. 7.4 crore. The Tamil Nadu keeper has been a fairly decent performer for all the IPL franchises that he has played for – be it Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab or Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Apart from his experience of playing for so many franchises, Karthik also has been the captain of the Tamil Nadu Ranji team since the 2009-10 season. Besides, since his international debut which was in 2004, he has played under multiple captains including Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli, which is another added benefit for him. Also, he was the vice-captain of the daredevils in IPL 7.