'Are you crazy?' - Dinesh Karthik reveals the reason behind quitting KKR captaincy

Dinesh Karthik had surprised more than a few people when he decided to quit the captaincy of the Kolkata Knight Riders cricket team in the middle of the Indian Premier League 2020. Overnight the captaincy shifted to the World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan, who was luckily a part of the franchise for that season. 

In a recent interaction, Karthik opened up about his experience of leaving the role and what transpired in his decision. He also praised the franchise for understanding what actually had happened and acting in a proper way to help the transition. Karthik also revealed that Morgan himself was a bit reluctant in taking up the job. 

The Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper-batsman was given the job of leading KKR in the IPL 2018 season. That year, the franchise ended as the third-placed side. In the 2019 season, they missed a playoff berth due to a lower net run rate. And in the 2020 season, KKR was looking good as a unit but didn’t have a dominant start to the league. 

‘Are you crazy?’ – Eoin Morgan to Dinesh Karthik

“We were aware of it. I think a lot of credit should be given to KKR because they handled it very well. They understood my situation. I was the problem, nobody else. From the moment, I’m not very sure, then they’re like ‘fine, there’s Morgan’. He (Morgan) actually was very reluctant,” Karthik said during an episode of the podcast ‘22 yarns with Gaurav Kapur’.

Karthik explained that Morgan wasn’t sure whether he wanted to take up the job because he wanted to come to the IPL and enjoy his game. “For him, he’s captaining England, such a high-pressure thing. He wants to come and play the IPL and enjoy it. And he was thoroughly enjoying it up to the point. He was vice-captain so basically, it’s about helping me,” Karthik said. 

When Karthik decided to quit as a captain of the franchise, the team was doing quite well. He expressed that when they decided this, KKR was placed fourth on the points table with four wins in seven matches. Karthik explained how hesitant Morgan was in taking up the role. The England ODI and T20I captain have continued to lead the franchise in the 2021 season, where their performance hasn’t been up to the mark. 

“But when I said this, he said ‘no, no’. And we were high on the table too; we had played some seven games and won four. We were No. 4 or 3 on the table. He said ‘are you crazy? Why would you do this? I don’t understand what you’re trying to do.’ Then I explained things to him,” Karthik said. Eventually, Morgan accepted the role of the captain. Karthik expressed it was his personal issues that made him quit the leadership role. He further said that franchise had no part to play in making him quit.