Xtra Time Web Desk: All is not well with two time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Kolkata Knight Riders. The Knight Riders had a great start to the ongoing IPL season, winning four out of the first five matches. But since then Dinesh Karthik led franchise has been at the receiving end, losing five matches on the trot to find themselves languishing at the bottom of the points table with 8 points from 10 matches.
The KKR team management has come under a lot of criticism after sending Andre Russell lower down the batting order in their last two matches. The hard hitting Jamaican went in to bat during the 15th over against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday.
Knight Riders Captain Dinesh Karthik has further dragged himself into controversy by not travelling with the team to Kolkata on Monday. The Knights are due to take on Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday at the Eden Gardens. The KKR captain along with Robin Uthappa, Yarra Prithvi Raj, Srikanth Munde and Nikhil Naik went to Mumbai from Hyderabad while the others returned to Kolkata.
It is learnt that Karthik and others were busy with sponsor commitments. The KKR team management including the media managers preferred not to share the whereabouts of the players, only adding more to the controversy.
It will be interesting how the Knight Riders Coach Jaques Kallis handles his pre-match conference on Tuesday.