Dubai: Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Dinesh Karthik is optimistic that talented India batsman Shubman Gill will exceed all expectations in the current IPL edition.
Gill got limited opportunity to showcase his skills in the last edition as his batting position was constantly fiddled but this time KKR coach Brendon McCullum has already given the opener’s slot to the 21-year-old.
Shubman is a quality player. There is a lot of expectation from him around the world, I’m sure he will exceed all expectations and I’m really confident about that, Karthik said in a virtual interaction ahead of clash against Mumbai Indians.
In Gill and Sunil Narine, KKR have got the perfect opening combination, he said.
No complicated batting by Sunil Narine makes it easy for us. It’s a very unique opening pair.
Karthik admitted that he has the ‘problem of plenty’ to pick the XI from a revamped Kolkata Knight Riders squad.
One of the tough points for KKR at this point of time is picking the right XI. A lot of guys have put their hands up and are ready for selection. It’s going to be an interesting one and a tough one but that’s a good sign.
Last season KKR started off well by winning four of their first five matches, but lost six matches on the trot in the business end to miss the qualifiers.
The team has a new coaching set up led by New Zealand great McCullum, while addition of England’s 2019 World Cup winning skipper Eoin Morgan and pacer Pat Cummins provides solidity and balance to the side this time.
While Cummins will lead the pace attack, it remains to be seen who will be the Indian pick.
Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shivam Mavi are coming back after long injury lay-offs, while they also have the talented Prasidh Krishna alongside Sandeep Warrier.
We are in a good space. One of our strengths is the variety we have in our pace department. All four Indian pacers are shaping up really well. It’s going to be a hard decision to make who’s going to start the tournament, Karthik said.