Karthik to lead KKR in IPL 2018

Dinesh Karthik has been appointed the new captain of Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of the 11th edition of the Indian Premier League, the franchise announced on Sunday (March 4). The 32-year-old, who was picked up by Knight Riders for INR 7.4 Crore in this year's mega auction, was one of the front-runners to lead the side after the franchise decided not to retain/buy back their long-serving captain Gautam Gambhir.

Karthik has previous experience of captaining Tamil Nadu in domestic cricket. He led Tamil Nadu to a title triumph in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2009-10. He was also the captain of the India Red side that won the Duleep Trophy last year. In the T20 format, Karthik led TUTI Patriots to the Tamil Nadu Premier League title in the 2016 edition.

Karthik played for Gujarat Lions in the 2017 IPL,
compiling 361 runs at an impressive average of 36.1. In the sixth edition of IPL, he played a key role in helping Mumbai Indians clinch the coveted trophy by scoring 510 runs and effecting 14 dismissals. The veteran 'keeper-batsman, who has also played for Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers Bangalore, has composed 2903 runs at a strike rate of 125.94 and effected 114 dismissals in his IPL career spanning 152 matches. He has also played 228 T20s, apart from 14 internationals for India, with 4441 runs and 186 dismissals to his name.

Knight Riders, the two-time champions, will kick start their campaign against Royal Challengers at home on April 8.