How KKR replaced Gautam Gambhir the captain with Dinesh Karthik the match-winner
BCCI
KKR could be attributed as one of the most efficient franchises, who have brilliantly kept their fandom and consistency intact in the ever-changing IPL. Things looked bleak this year after Gautam Gambhir left, but the management still managed to pull off a rabbit out of their hat - Dinesh Karthik.
When the owner of Red Chillies Entertainment, Shahrukh Khan, had decided to appoint a certain Venky Mysore as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director of Kolkata Knight Riders based on his 25 years of financial experience, it had understandably not gone well with the fans who believed that the franchise was reduced to solely earning money with no interest in competing in the league whatsoever.
With the side not able to go past the sixth position in the first three seasons, KKR had to let go
It was the 2011 auctions when the policy of retention was first made known, and Mysore took the enormous risk of starting with a clean slate. With the big names like McCullum, Chris Gayle and Ganguly all moving out, KKR were one of the first in IPL who tried relying on data analysis, which enabled them to go for skills over names, as a business-minded Mysore had once said in a Cricbuzz interview, “When you put talent in a very good environment, invariably some magic happens. And that's true of any business and not just cricket.”
The rest as we know is history. Gautam Gambhir came to the fore amidst huge controversy with numerous not-so-famous but efficacious names now donning the KKR jersey like Shakib-al-Hasan, Brad Haddin, Eoin Morgan, James Pattinson, and more. Consequently, the only team that hadn’t reached the knockout stages in the first three seasons, ended fourth in 2011 before going on to win the title in 2012 and 2014.
Hence, ahead of the mega-auction in 2018, when every team was busy doing permutation and combination about whom to retain and whom to leave, KKR were crystal clear in their approach. While some teams like Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad, KKR, and Mumbai Indians decided to largely stick to players from the previously successful side, others like Delhi Daredevils, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals went for a major revamp.
For KKR, however, there was a different challenge. Apart from retaining the core players and buying back some important ones the management had to replace Gambhir too, who had by then become the face of KKR to the fans with his aggressive brand of captaincy and titles. It was once again the time to repeat the feat that Mysore had pulled off seven years back. The transition needed to be smooth, which could retain both the fan-following and winning quotient intact, and most of all KKR needed to continue their successful run in the league.
While one would come up with big names from the back of mind when Gambhir’s replacement is asked, Mysore always knew his weapon that could help him work with a finite budget – data analytics. The biggest USP for the management has always been to be crystal clear in knowing what they want. They knew what-handed batsman was required, in what role, in what skill set and in how much consistency. Dinesh Karthik’s selection was a culmination of all these, which has now turned out to be a success after initial apprehensions.
Like his international career, Karthik’s IPL stints have also been a start-stop. After a horrible campaign in 2015 with Royal Challengers Bangalore, where he could manage just 141 runs from 16 games, many had thought he was done and dusted. And though he couldn’t be a part of the national team for the next two years, his domestic knocks were making headlines.
He had managed a whopping 1562 runs at an average of 57.85 in 2015/16 List A season, while in the 2016/17 T20 season, he garnered 844 runs in 32 games at a strike rate of 149.64. His growing strength reflected in his stint with Gujarat Lions (696 runs in 30 games over two seasons with a strike rate of 178.69) that played a major role in rejuvenating his career. And while he was back into the limited-overs format in Indian colours, it was his T20 prowess that was now becoming more prominent.
KKR were more interested in this new found skill in the shortest format, which is popularly known to have developed after Karthik started his practice sessions with friend-cum-mentor Abhishek Nayar. Karthik played four T20Is and three innings in 2017 making 71 runs and six innings this year making 98 runs with a strike rate of 200. It is here that the data analytics worked wonders. In the Indian colours, the likes of in-form Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli hardly left Karthik with the finishing job that KKR had already noticed, one which eventually came out in the Nidahas Trophy final.
While fans and critics were looking at Karthik as Gambhir’s direct replacement, KKR were looking to fill a massive void in the side. With Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine already proving their opening prowess last season and a veteran like Robin Uthappa following them, KKR had little worries about Gambhir leaving. They wanted someone who could finish off games from the middle and the amount of trust the management put on Karthik is evident on the other two inexperienced batsmen KKR
"It was never about an individual player; Team KKR comes first," Mysore had said in the interview. What most other franchises understood late with some still struggling to fathom, KKR had decrypted years back. Where everyone saw only four big names in KKR’s batting arsenal, the management saw an incredible amalgam of experience and potential thrown into a cauldron. And the backbone of them all was Karthik, whose job was to either end the
It was this enormous role that perhaps led the side to hand him the captaincy. Captaining a squad that was experimenting with the least number of players, mainly youngsters, hasn’t been easy at all, but for
KKR have chased eight times this season so far, and have five times. And Karthik has remained significant in all five of those victories with the figures reading 35* against RCB, 42* against RR, 45* against RCB or the most recent 41* against RR against in the last game. His total of 186 runs came at an average of 186.00 and a strike rate of 167.56. The best example was in the match against CSK when Karthik came in with his side struggling at 97/4 with an inexperienced Shubman Gill at the other end chasing a target of 178 runs. Though the spotlight remained on a young Gill for his maiden IPL fifty, it was Karthik’s thunderous 18-ball-45 that made things a cake-walk for Gill.
In terms of dot balls too, the man from Tamil Nadu has been quite sharp giving away only 25.2% during chases, which puts him second only to RCB’s AB de Villiers. He has also found a boundary once in every five balls, apart from his affinity to almost always seeing his side through.
Harsha Bhogle had once said he always saw a great cricketer lurking behind a fidgety Dinesh Karthik. It was the young avatar of the player, which has now returned perfectly refined for his second coming. A cricketing nation like India is brimming with talent and it all depends on the perfect eye to pick them up – how and when. In terms of captaincy, Karthik is definitely not up there which has been evident in many IPL games in the last two months. But, in a T20 match with two strategic timeouts and multiple coaches cracking brains, a captain hardly needs to make a call and who other than KKR would know it better.
