DH Radio | The Lead: Krishnappa Gowtham on playing for Kings XI Punjab guided by Anil Kumble

In this episode of The Lead from DH Radio, all-rounder Krishnappa Gowtham talks about training under coach Anil Kumble and his learnings from the Indian Premier League so far.

Vivek M V: He started off with a disciplined effort with the ball in Karnataka’s triumphant show in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Then came the heroic effort in the last over of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 final. In the Ranji Trophy, he was Karnataka’s biggest match-winner last season. K Gowtham delivered in every format of 2019-2020. He was eager to take the confidence to the Indian Premier League. But Covid-19 had other plans.

The global pandemic, which brought the sporting world to a halt, threatened to hit IPL as well.

After a long wait, the 13th edition of the cash-rich league is all set to unfold in the United Arab Emirates. The Karnataka all-rounder talks to DH radio on his excitement of playing for his new team Kings XI Punjab, training under head coach Anil Kumble and more.

Hello Gowtham, welcome to the show. Gowtham tell me how relieved you are that cricket is starting? How happy are you that you will be finally getting to play cricket again?

Gowtham: All the cricketers were waiting for this kind of opportunity. I have been waiting for a while and itching to go on to the field and do what best I can do, I was looking forward for this for a while now and it’s fortunate that it’s happening now.

Vivek: Gowtham last time when I spoke to you I think it was in April and you had said that this kind of a Covid-forced break it helped you to spend time with family and also relax. But after a while, the break started extending, then did you start missing the game and was it difficult to not play the game?

Gowtham: Even though I was spending time with the family, there was a time when I was missing cricket. We cannot help it, because it’s not in our control, the pandemic. we were looking forward to playing the matches in April when the tournament was scheduled. For a while it was fine but after a while, we wanted to do something productive or related to cricket has to be done. If not physical activities, at least the mental aspect we were working on.

Vivek: When I spoke to a couple of other players, they told me that they created an atmosphere inside the house and started playing the game, or they started watching their old videos. What did you do stay associated with the game?

Gowtham: I can relate to them as well. I was watching my videos. There is lot of learning in every game. I was watching few videos of old games, whatever mistakes I have done, what kind of things I could have done better. There is lot of analysis. You have enough time to analyse. You can always be little critical in that aspect, you can always get better, which is actually good in a cricketer’s life, it will help you to grow and understand yourself better...

To hear the rest of the conversation, listen to our podcast.