Krishnappa Gowtham

An explosive batsman lower down the order and a fine off spinner leading the Karnataka team in the last few years have been the characteristics of Krishnappa Gowtham. He has been trained under Indian stalwart Erapalli Prasanna and he has grown in stature season after season. 

Gowtham has been known for finishing close matches with his ability to hit lusty blows late in the winnings and his calmness and reassurance during tight chases make him a player, teams aspire to have.

The talented all-rounder made his first-class debut for Karnataka in 2012 by playing against Uttar Pradesh, where he grabbed wickets of Suresh Raina and Bhuvneswar Kumar, but it wasn’t sufficient to secure a place in the playing XI. Gowtham made a solid comeback in the 2016-17 Ranji season. He picked two consecutive five-wicket hauls and finished the season as one of the leading wicket-takers for his state. 

His red-ball performances handed him a List-A debut and impressed many with his 4 for 58, which helped his side in a 5-run win over Jharkhand. Meanwhile, the all-rounder was performing wonders in the Karnataka Premier League. 

During a match against Shivamogga Lions, he smashed an unbeaten 134 that was the quickest-ton of the  tournament and then took figures of 8 for 15 in the very same game, which went on to become the best figures in the T20 format. 

Gowtham was picked by Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2017 auction but a wider pool of talented players in the MI setup meant Gowtham could not get a game that season. Gowtham was then bought by Rajasthan Royals for INR 6.2 crore, where he excelled as an all-rounder and was used smartly down the order to finish close games.

The all-rounder has been proving his worth in the domestic competitions and has played a vital role in Karnataka’s dominance in the last decade. In the 2019-20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Gowtham was astonishing in all the departments. In the final, he defended 4 runs off the last 4 balls against Tamil Nadu, and helped Karnataka clinch their second consecutive title.

Surprisingly, he was traded with KXIP for the IPL 2020 auction where Gowtham didn’t get enough opportunities to get on the field.

In February 2021, the utility all-rounder was grabbed by Chennai Superkings for a whopping amount of INR 9.25 crores. Gowtham’s skill-sets will be gold on the spin-friendly Chepauk pitch and a befitting all-rounder like Krishnappa Gowtham would surely flourish under MS Dhoni’s guidance. 

(As of March 2021)