The captain of the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Dinesh Karthik has said the Kolkata-based franchise will be playing an aggressive brand of cricket but with a smile on their face in IPL 2020, which is scheduled to commence on September 19 in the UAE.

KKR will be entering the 13th edition of the tournament with a new-look squad after some big-money additions, including Eoin Morgan and Pat Cummins, however, they lost the services of Chirs Lynn to Mumbai Indians. Stressing that letting go of Lynn was a decision that was taken with a ‘heavy heart’, Dinesh Karthik explained that the opener’s exit was something that was influenced by a change in team dynamics.

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Explaining the same, on IPL’s official website, Karthik said, “I think Chris Lynn, whatever time he spent with KKR, he is an absolute gun, he has done so well for them over a period of time. But so are the dynamics of an auction you need to let go of some players to change the dynamics of the game. It was actually with a heavy heart we let Lynny go. We are a very aggressive team, we will stick to that style and make sure we play it with a smile on our face though.”

However, Dinesh Karthik also explained that he is looking to play with Eoin Morgan and Pat Cummins. While the World Cup-winning captain was bought by KKR for ₹5.25 crores, the Australian fast bowler set the auction on fire, as he went on to fetch as many as ₹15.5 crores. 

Explaining his urge for playing with Cummins and Morgan, Dinesh said, “We wanted somebody who is probably world-class and there is nobody better than Pat Cummins in the world right now. He is the best bowler in the world right now.  The most important thing, the little conversations I have had with him, he is a gem of a guy. He looks like the kind of bowler who will impart knowledge and more importantly bowl those key overs for us and make the difference in close games.”

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He further elaborated, “In the same breath just the fact that Eoin Morgan is there, a couple of times I met him, he is an absolute gem of a guy. A World Cup-winning captain just handling all types of players from different countries but made sure they played as a unit for England and probably the best side in the world in the white-ball format, especially in one-day cricket.”