Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Dinesh Karthik has expressed his desire to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as soon as possible especially to be with new coach Brendon McCullum and KKR’s latest recruit Eoin Morgan.

“In every generation there is a cricketer who changes the face of cricket. I think Brendon McCullum did that in the last WC. He showed the world how to play the game really fair, really hard in a watchable and enjoyable manner. He is extremely inspiring,” the latest episode of ESPNcricinfo One on One #Workfromhome as quoted by IANS.

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“One of the reasons why I want this IPL to happen is to be able to work with Brendon and Eoin Morgan. These are the two people I genuinely want to rub shoulders with. I can learn so much from these two people,” he added.

Earlier, England limited-overs skipper Morgan had also said that he was looking forward to work with Karthik and coach McCullim. Morgan was scheduled to turn up for KKR in the 2020 season of the Indian Premier League that should have started on March 29 but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“I’ve spoken to DK a lot and I met up with him just before Christmas when I was out in Mumbai. He’s a fantastic guy, a great cricketer and I’m looking forward to helping him in whatever way I can,” the 33-year-old 2019 World Cup winner told the www.kkr.in.

Meanwhile, the wicketkeeper-batsman Karthik was also seen heaping praise on his franchise as he said that KKR was the best IPL team he had been a part of. “KKR is without doubt the best franchise I have played for and I feel honoured to lead this team. In my the first year at KKR, we did very well, we almost made it to the final but lost in semis,” he said.

Commenting on the format of IPL and his role as captain, Karthik said: “It is a very interesting time for cricket. The amount of data that has been consumed to play every game in last few years is phenomenal. And since the entry of corporates it has changed so much. They want us to embrace analytics as well as the technical knowhow of the game. We use a lot of tactic at IPL, not only during the game but also during the auctions. There is a lot of knowledge floating around, and how you use this knowledge to get your opponent is in the hands of the captain, the coach and senior players.”