Kolkata Knight Riders have announced Dinesh Karthik as the captain of the franchise for the year 2018. One of the candidates for the KKR captaincy was Robin Uthappa. He, however, lost the honour to Karthik in the end as he is going to assist the wicketkeeper-batsman as the vice-captain.

Nevertheless, when the news of Karthik’s appointment reached to him, he was chuffed to bits and expressed his joy of playing under the leadership of his childhood acquaintance.

“DK and I know each other from our U-17 playing days; I’m really excited to work with him,” he was quoted as saying by Times Now.

Meanwhile, he wasn’t the only one who was happy about the choice as the CEO of KKR, Venky Mysore, was ecstatic that his team have two players blessed with leadership skills like that of Dinesh Karthik and Robin Uthappa.

“Robin has been an integral part of KKR since 2014 and played a crucial role in KKR winning the championship. We are fortunate to have both Dinesh and Robin in leadership roles for KKR.”

Karthik has captaincy experience as he led Tamil Nadu for six matches in the Ranji Trophy and was also the captain of Tuti Patriots in the Tamil Nadu Premier League in 2016. Uthappa, meanwhile, can also boast about being a captain with the India A team in Australia in 2013.