IPL 2018: Robin Uthappa reacts to Karthik's appointment as KKR skipper

Dinesh Karthik was appointed as the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). He was bought by the franchise for a whopping amount of Rs 7.4 Crores in the auction which took place in January. Karthik will have to fill in the big shoes of Gautam Gambhir who wasn’t retained by the KKR this time around. However, Robin Uthappa has expressed his opinion over the appointment of the Karthik at the helm.

Interestingly, Uthappa was the front-runner for the coveted post along with Chris Lynn who was once again injured while playing the T20I tri-series in New Zealand. But the team management of the most celebrated franchise has gone with Dinesh Karthik and chose Uthappa as the deputy to him who was retained by them. However, there seem to be no hard feelings for the talented batsman as he was excited to work with him and try to win the trophy.

What did Uthappa say?

Robin Uthappa was delighted after KKR announced Karthik as the leader of the pack for the eleventh edition of the Indian T20 extravaganza. “DK and I know each other from our U-17 playing days; I’m really excited to work with him,” he was quoted as saying by Times Now. It would be interesting to see the way they work together as he will need the key inputs from Uthappa during the course of the matches as well.

The CEO of KKR, Venky Mysore, was over the moon to have the likes of Karthik and Uthappa who possess some of the best leadership skills in them. “Robin has been an integral part of KKR since 2014 and played a crucial role in KKR winning the championship. We are fortunate to have both Dinesh and Robin in leadership roles for KKR,” he added.

The IPL will commence on April 7 this year with KKR playing their first game of the tournament against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the iconic Eden Gardens on the next day.