In what has become a surprise development, Kolkata Knight Riders had on Friday made a major announcement as team's captain Dinesh Karthik had handed over the baton of captaincy to Eoin Morgan and the English batsman will be leading the team for the rest of the current IPL season. 

Dinesh Karthik's decision of stepping down as the captain has come when KKR is getting ready for its battle against the triumphing Mumbai Indians on Friday in Abu Dhabi. Shah Rukh Khan's franchise has issued a statement concerning the sudden change in which it has said that Dinesh Karthik has informed the management that with a view to focus on his batting and contributing more to the team's cause, he wishes to hand over the captaincy to Eoin Morgan. 

In the statement, Chief Executive of KKR Venky Mysore said, "We are fortunate to have leaders such as Dinesh Karthik, who has always put the team first. It takes a lot of courage for someone like him to take this decision. While we were surprised by his decision, we are respectful of his wishes". 

The Chief Executive stated that Dinesh Karthik and Eoin Morgan will be working together for the rest of the tournament. Eoin Morgan was the 2019 World Cup-winning captain and he has been the vice-captain of the KKR and they both have brilliantly worked together during the current tournament. Though Eoin has taken over as captain, the Chief Executive added that the franchise has been hoping that this transition will work in a seamless manner. 

As Eoin Morgan has taken over the baton, the first test of his captaincy would be against Mumbai Indians. Rohit's army has been one of the successful teams in the current season with exhibiting flawless performance in all the departments. Mumbai Indians has been one of the teams that have more likely reserved a berth in the playoffs of the current season. 

KKR would be competing against the Mumbai Indians on Friday at Abu Dhabi which would be the 32nd match of the series. With the defending champions strongly hope for the victory to reach the top of the table, Eoin's army is preparing to record the second consecutive victory. 

At the current state, Mumbai Indians had played seven matches of which it had won five and currently stands at the second spot while KKR had played seven matches of which it had its own four matches and stands at the fourth place.