cricket

Updated: Apr 25, 2019 08:47 IST

Out of form Kolkata Knight Riders captain Dinesh Karthik, senior batsman Robin Uthappa and three other members of the KKR squad have been asked to take a break by the franchise to clear their heads.

The five cricketers – captain Dinesh Karthik, batsman Robin Uthappa, wicket-keeper Nikhil Naik and pacers Shrikant Munde and Prithvi Raj Yarra – will regroup with the rest of the KKR squad in Kolkata before their next IPL encounter against Rajasthan Royals, reported ESPNCricinfo.

The decision to send the players on a break was taken after Knight Riders suffered their fifth straight loss of the season to find themselves at No. 6 in the IPL points table.

Karthik and Uthappa meanwhile have decided to utilize the time by training with KKR’s academy mentor Abhishek Nayar in Mumbai. Notably, Nayar had played a crucial role in getting Karthik’s career back on track last year.

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Both Karthik and Uthappa and have been horribly short of runs this season. Karthik has a tally of 117 runs after ten matches with only one fifty. His captaincy has also come under scrutiny on a number of occasions this season. The decision to send their best power hitter Andre Russell as low as No. 7 in the last few matches have only escalated the matter.

Uthappa, on the other hand, has been struggling with his own issues. While he has managed to score more runs than Karthik, 220 to be exact in nine matches but his strike rate of 119.56 has been a real cause of concern for the two-time champions. Uthappa wasted a lot of deliveries, which proved to be costly in their last home game against RCB. KKR fell 10 short of the 214-run target.

Among the other three cricketers, Naik and Prithvi have played one match each with very little contribution and Mundhe has been on the bench all along.

Interestingly, KKR are not the only franchise to give their players a break. Mumbai Indians were the firsts this season to give their entire squad a four-day break before their next match.