Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders would look to usher in a fresh era under new captain Dinesh Karthik with a victory when they open their Indian Premier League campaign against heavyweights Royal Challengers Bangalore, here on Sunday.
As KKR seek to create an new identity in the post-Gautam Gambhir era, it would not be a surprise to see a packed Sunday Eden crowd rooting for the star Indian skipper Virat Kohli in the RCB jersey.
The mood of uncertainty in the home camp was aptly summed by their assistant coach Simon Katich who termed themselves as "underdogs" against RCB, despite KKR leading the head-to-head record 12-9. Karthik's last ball six in the T20 Tri-nation final win over Bangladesh last month sent a timely assurance to the KKR loyalists but the Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper batsman has an envious task at hand to match or better what Gambhir did as the southpaw led KKR to two titles.
The first task up front will be to find the right balance in what seems to be a weak middle order and a motivate the pace attack which got depleted after the pullout of Aussie pace spearhead Mitchell Starc. Karthik has an unknown entity in Rinku Singh, and three uncapped youngsters in Shubman Gill, Shivam Mavi and Kamlesh Nagarcoti, fresh from winning Under-19 World Cup. KKR's nucleus is intact in Robin Uthappa, Chris Lynn, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Piyush Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav.
The support staff is also intact. Head coach Jacques Kallis who has been with the side since their resurgence under Gambhir in 2011 along with Simon will look to guide and support the new captain. The trio of Lynn, Russell and Narine, who are their obvious choice as foreign players and form the backbone, are coming back from respective setbacks. Lynn (shoulder) and Russell (hamstring) are recovering from injuries, while their ace spinner Narine has remodelled his action after his latest call for a suspect action.
With no Starc, they have pace bowling option in Aussie veteran Mitchell Johnson who has not been at his finest in recent months, while R Vinay Kumar hasn't made a significant impact in recent IPL seasons. Englishman Tom Curran, Starc's replacement, is a handy all-rounder but he is yet to play in India and will be watched closely. KKR go into the match with happy memories of skittling out RCB for the lowest ever IPL total (49) here last year, while in the return leg Narine smashed the tournament's fastest fifty (17 ball 54 ) as they made a double over Kohli's side in 2017.
