Will KKR Sack Dinesh Karthik As Captain? Coach Jacques Kallis Answers

Jacques Kallis, Kolkata Knight Riders’ head coach, has played down the talks of the franchise removing Dinesh Karthik as the captain after team’s recent poor run.

Kolkata Knight Riders had a brilliant start to the tournament but have suffered a form slump.

They won four of their first five contests, losing one to Delhi Capitals in super over.

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Post that, KKR suffered a form slump which has seen them lose five matches on the trot.

The talks regarding whether the franchise is discussing Dinesh Karthik’s captaincy floated but were played down by Kallis.

“No. We haven’t discussed it, nor it been brought up. So now there’s been no talk about that,” he said.

It clearly means that Dinesh Karthik will continue to lead the team in remainder of the four matches, which are must-win for the franchise.

The Tamil Nadu-batsman was named as the skipper of the franchise last year.

Robin Uthappa, who was playing for KKR for long, was the front-runner for the post but the franchise sprung a surprise by giving the captaincy to Karthik.

Uthappa was named deputy to Karthik.

In his first season as the full-time captain, Karthik led Kolkata Knight Riders to the play-off stage.

Last year as well, KKR had suffered a form slump but were able to qualify for the second round.

This time around, the team hasn’t performed well and has been over-reliant on Andre Russell, who is the top-scorer for the team despite not getting much time in the middle.

KKR’s bowlers have also been out of form.

Kuldeep Yadav, a part of team India’s World Cup squad, has struggled in the tournament so far and was also dropped for the previous match.

Batsmen have also struggled for runs, that also saw Uthappa being benched for the previous match.

In short, nothing has gone KKR’s way and the team needs to come up with out of the box performances to make it to the playoffs.

Kolkata Knight Riders next face Rajasthan Royals in a home game tomorrow.

They will next host Mumbai Indians in their last home game of the season.

The two-time IPL champions will then travel to Mohali to take on R Ashwin-led Kings XI Punjab before playing Mumbai Indians at Wankhede Stadium in the final league stage game of the tournament.