Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), last year narrowly missed out on the IPL playoffs birth and finished 5th in the season. This year the KKR franchise has roped in Brendon McCullum as the head coach of the squad and retained Dinesh Karthik as skipper.
KKR reached UAE on Thursday night and now players will be confined to their hotel rooms and only after three rounds of testing they will begin training. In his recent interview, KKR captain Karthik admitted that the IPL this year will indeed be different from all the seasons played before.
We will give it all in IPL 2020 – KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik
The wicket-keeper batsman added it will we a real challenge to play cricket without much extensive training. However, Karthik promised all the KKR fans that despite all the obstacles the team will give it all in the upcoming IPL in the UAE.
“This IPL will be different. What has happened in the world has pained us deeply and it is surely a challenge to play cricket. But we understand that when we play the game, we bring happiness to our fans.”
“Yes, there will be a bio bubble. Yes, we haven’t played or trained extensively for the last few months and the road ahead may be full of obstacles. But we promise to give it all”, Karthik told the KKR website.
Meanwhile, this year KKR will miss out on the incredible home support they get every year at Eden Gardens. Every season fans storm the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata and almost 70,000 people cheer for KKR in the stadium. Karthik said that the team will surely miss the home support but is nervously excited about playing in the UAE.
“We may not be playing this year at our home Eden Gardens, but it is where our heart is. As we embark on our journey to the UAE, with slight nervousness and immense enthusiasm, we seek our fans blessings”, KKR skipper Karthik concluded.
The Knight Riders are two-time IPL champions as they won the league in 2012 and 2014 respectively. The franchise has spent more than 15 corers on Aussie pacer Pat Cummins and have tried to create a more balanced side in the IPL auction. The 13th edition of IPL will take place between September 19 to November 10 across three venues in the UAE.
