Wanting to focus on his batting, Dinesh Karthik has stepped down as Kolkata Knight Riders captain, with Eoin Morgan replacing him.
The franchise made the announcement hours before their match against defending champions Mumbai Indians in Abu Dhabi on Friday. The Knight Riders are currently fourth on the points table with four wins and three losses in first half of the season.
In the first seven matches, Karthik had struggled for fluency after shuffling around in the middle order. He has managed just 108 runs in seven matches with a highest of 58, even though his strike rate is an impressive 136.
In a media statement, the Knight Riders said Karthik “wishes to handover” the leadership to Morgan “with a view to focus on his batting and contributing more to the team’s cause.
‘Takes a lot of courage’
Venky Mysore, Knight Riders’ chief executive, said the franchise was “surprised” by Karthik’s decision. Mysore, though, put a positive spin saying he looked at the development as just a captaincy swap.
“We are fortunate to have leaders such as DK, who has always put the team first,” Mysore said. “It takes a lot of courage for someone like him to take a decision such as this. While we were surprised by his decision, we are respectful of his wishes.”
In 2018 Karthik was bought by the Knight Riders for INR 7.4 crore ($1.156 million then) and appointed as captain. Under Karthik, the Knight Riders finished third in 2018 and fifth in 2019. Overall Karthik has so far scored 859 runs at a strike rate of nearly 146 with five half-centuries. However, Karthik was been bothered by his batting position this IPL.
At the season opening media conference, Karthik admitted as much that he was still working out the right batting position with head coach Brendon McCullum. “That is something on top of our agenda as well. The coach is not letting me go where I want,” Karthik said tongue-in-cheek, responding to a query about whether he would be batting ahead of Nitish Rana in the top order.
McCullum had said the Knight Riders had enough left-hand and right-hand batting options. “We want to pride ourselves in playing intelligent cricket as well and being able to adapt to situations as they come about. We got such world-class players in the likes of Dinesh and also Nitish so we can mix and match a little bit based on strategy. But that will certainly include … the skipper batting little bit up the order.”
Why Morgan?
Morgan has been solid with the bat. Currently he is the second-best batsman at Knight Riders scoring 175 runs at a strike rate of nearly 130.
Morgan is known mainly for his success as England ODI captain including the 2019 World Cup win. But he has equally extensive experience as a leader in T20s. In 88 T20s Morgan has been captain, Morgan has won 39 matches, lost 45, tied twice with one no result.
Morgan was bought the Knight Riders at the 2020 auction for INR 5.25 cr ($739,000). Obviously his close relationship with McCullum was highlighted as one key reason being the franchise hiring him. But Morgan was brought in specifically for the dual purpose of lending experience in the middle order and helping the Knight Riders’ leadership group comprising McCullum, Karthik and Abhishek Nayar.
The rise in Morgan’s stature can be gauged from the fact that in 2012 he and McCullum were teammates at Knight Riders. Now he is an established leader, talked about as one of the best limited overs captains in white ball cricket. Morgan himself has talked about the big difference since 2012 and now is his belief in himself as batsman and leader has grown immensely.
“He’s an incredibly dangerous player and probably the best middle-order batsman in the shorter version over the last two years,” McCullum told the Indian daily Telegraph recently.
Mysore said the franchise was “fortunate” to have Morgan, a World Cup winning captain with England, was “willing” to lead the Knight Riders. “DK and Eoin have worked brilliantly together during this tournament and although Eoin takes over as captain, this is effectively a role swap and we expect that this transition will work in a seamless manner.”