On the 4 January 2018, Shah Rukh Khan-owned franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) stunned everyone with its decision not to retain skipper Gautam Gambhir. Since KKR did not use the RTM to retain Gambhir, the player went to Delhi Daredevils, which was a homecoming for him.

Ever since there is curiosity among the fans over the next skipper as most of the players are young and uncapped.

Recently, in an interview to Sportstar, Robin Uthappa said it will be an honour for him to lead the team if the offer comes his way.

“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,” the wicket-keeper batsman said.

KKR had bought Uthappa in 2014, before that he had played for Mumbai Indians, Pune Warriors and Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers.

“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,” Robin Uthappa added.

Responding to a question about KKR’s decision to invest in uncapped players, Uthappa said that everyone will have to understand the value of domestic and uncapped players and “they will make a mark in the tournament”.

“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.

“(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,” Uthappa said.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Mitchell Starc, Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Kuldeep Singh Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Nitish Rana, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Mitchell Johnson, Shubman Gill, Ranganath Vinay Kumar, Rinku Singh , Cameron Delport, Javon Searless, Apoorv Vijay Wankhade, Ishank Jaggi