Dinesh Karthik has played a double role - both as captain and a new player himself, says Kallis

For a long time before, the name of Delhi-born Gautam Gambhir was synonymous with the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise since he first led the team to the IPL trophy in 2012 followed by a second win in the 2014 season. But having departed for his hometown to lead the Delhi Daredevils squad from now on, the Kolkata-based franchise have turned their attention towards a new leader in the form of Dinesh Karthik.

Former player and current KKR head coach Jacques Kallis believed that the Indian wicket-keeper has stepped up in the absence of senior players such as Gambhir and Pathan to lead the side despite being a new arrival.

“The Knight Riders franchise is known for its stability and its success has been underpinned by a core group of senior and familiar faces but, like all successful teams, KKR has been able to change and grow into the future. Lots of time was spent in the week or ten days before the first game helping the new players to settle in and find their feet within the KKR family. Dinesh Karthik has played a double role – both as captain and a new player himself – and, as expected, has been excellent,” Kallis wrote for TOI.

Under Karthik’s leadership, a young KKR team have notched up one win and one defeat in two IPL outings against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings respectively. They have shown their quality in these two games and have emerged as one of the underdogs to challenge for the title under the leadership of Karthik.

Kallis also spoke about the young British pacer, Tom Curran, who was a last-gasp replacement for Starc. Kallis added that he was excited to have the 23-year old on board and stated that Curran had great potential.

“It was a blow to lose Mitchell Starc at short notice but we are not alone - Pat Cummins and Kagiso Rabada were also ‘casualties’ of a hard-fought Test series between South Africa and Australia.

“But Tom Curran is an excellent replacement and I’m excited to have him on board. Obviously he has particular skills for bowling at the end of the innings, but he can bowl anywhere, and I would be surprised if his batting doesn’t make a few important contributions along the way,” wrote Kallis, who in 70 matches for KKR scored 1603 runs and took 48 wickets.