Dinesh Karthik to captain Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2018

File photo of Dinesh Karthik (PTI)

New Delhi: The suspense around who will captain Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) after Gautam Gambhir's exit ended on Sunday when the franchise's CEO, Venky Mysore, announced that Dinesh Karthik will lead the side in the eleventh season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Also in the running for captain's job were Chris Lynn and Robin Uthappa, but the decision went in favour of Karthik, who was bought for Rs. 7.4 crore by KKR at the IPL players' auction in January. Uthappa will be Karthik's deputy.

The announcement was made at the Star Sports studios in the KKR-Star Sports show called Knight Club.

"It is an honour to represent Kolkata Knight Riders, one of the most successful franchises in the IPL, and I look forward to this new challenge. I am excited about the squad that has been assembled, which has a great combination of experience and youth," said Karthik, who was present on the show alongside Mysore. 

Mysore said, "It is indeed a start of a new phase for KKR, and we are delighted that someone as experienced as Dinesh Karthik will lead the side."

KKR Squad: Dinesh Karthik (c), Robin Uthappa (vc), Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Singh Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Nitish Rana, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Mitchell Johnson, Shubman Gill, Ranganath Vinay Kumar, Rinku Singh, Cameron Delport, Javon Searless, Apoorv Vijay Wankhade, Ishank Jaggi

(With PTI inputs)