Dinesh Karthik names three KKR players he would trade to get Kagiso Rabada, Shreyas Iyer and Ravi Ashwin from DC

On Saturday, September 26, Dinesh Karthik, the Kolkata Knight Riders’ skipper, had every reason to celebrate. The Men in Gold and Purple beat David Warner’s Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets with 12 balls to spare at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

In the meantime, Karthik chose three KKR players who he would trade from Delhi Capitals (DC). Ravi Ashwin, who plays for the Capitals after being released by Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), gave his Tamil Nadu teammate a hypothetical scenario of picking three and releasing three.

“I’ll give you a hypothetical scenario. In the movie Pandavar Bhoomi, there’s one family. So, you have to the opportunity to adopt three and give me three to adopt,” Ashwin told Karthik on the YouTube show ‘Hello Dubaiaah’ hosted by the former.

Dinesh Karthik makes the tough choices

To start with Karthik named New Zealand’s Lockie Ferguson for South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada, who’s currently the Purple Cap holder in the T20 league. Then he said that he would trade Nitish Rana for DC captain Shreyas Iyer.

Rana has been with the Knights since 2018 after impressing for the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the 2017 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).  As his third and final pick, Karthik named Sunil Narine, who he would trade for Ashwin itself.

The Trinidadian Narine has been with the Knight Riders since 2012 and has contributed for them with both bat and ball.

“From your team Rabada. I’ll give Lockie Ferguson and take Kagiso Rabada. Another player… Who’s our No.3? Nitish Rana. So, I’ll give Nitish Rana to Delhi take Shreyas Iyer. Sunil Narine for R Ashwin,” Karthik said.

Seeing Karthik’s generous nature, Ashwin was excited and touched. “Heart’s been touched. He’s an opener too but I’m like for like replacement. Thank you so much,” Ashwin added.

As far as the IPL goes, Karthik’s KKR are next scheduled to lock horns with Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Dubai on September 30. Ashwin, on the other hand, is recovering from the shoulder injury that he suffered during DC’s opening match against KXIP. He has already missed one match against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Friday, September 25.