I’ll be honoured to take the captaincy role for KKR, says Robin Uthappa

At the Indian Premier League auction in January, two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders decided to let go of Gautam Gambhirwho led the side as captain since 2012. With only 19 members in the squad, the KKR are looking light in numbers and with the squad investing a lot in youth and uncapped talent, there appear to be very few members who can take the mantle of captaincy for the upcoming season.

On being asked if he would be willing to take the captaincy role for, wicketkeeper-batsman Robin Uthappa, who was retained by KKR using Right-to-match card for Rs 6.4 crore, said that he will be “honoured” to take the role if the team management wants him to do so. “Of course, I am. I’ll be honoured if the opportunity came along but it’s for the think-tank to decide — whatever role they want me to take, I’ll give my 110 percent. Adding value to my team as a cricketer is crucial to my game,” he said in an interview to Sportstar.

Uthappa, who was bought by KKR in 2014, played for Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers and Pune Warriors India, in his early years in the tournament. The opening batsman believes that he has now settled at Kolkata and is eager to return “home”. “The initial five or six years of the IPL, I moved around a lot, so for me to find one place I could call home was important. The people back in Kolkata are absolutely fantastic, they’ve treated me with so much love and care. Even the team management has stood by me right from the time I joined them,” the 32-year old said.

Speaking about the team management’s decision to invest on uncapped players, the right-hand batsman said that the young players will make a mark in the tournament. I think we’ve to understand the value the Indian domestic players bring into the franchise. It is only when you give them responsibilities that you find out whether they are going to flourish as athletes or learn how to handle the pressure. What the team has done is, it has given them a chance to expose themselves to some quality international cricket and see how the boys do,” he said.

“I think it’s great foresight. A lot of the domestic Indian batters must be gung-ho about playing in the first team and that’s a great position to be in,” Uthappa added.

KKR bought U-19 World Cup 2018 Man-of-the-series batsman Shubman Gill for Rs 1.8 crore. Speaking about the youngster, Uthappa said, “(Shubman) Gill has got a very strong game, I think he’s a naturally aggressive player. And he looks very versatile at this point in time. Obviously, the variations and pace (in IPL) are going to be different — it’ll be five or 10 clicks faster. It’s about acclimatising to the conditions but I feel these guys will do great because of the kind of exposure they’ve had at such a young age. The next few years are going to be strong years for KKR.”

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