Krishnappa Gowtham would be turning out for the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The all-rounder played for the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in 2017 and 2018 after which he was traded to the KXIP. But in a Punjab-based team, Gowtham would be plying his trade alongside some of his teammates in the Karnataka team.

Even as KL Rahul is the skipper of the side, KXIP also has Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair and Jagadeesha Suchith in the ranks. It isn’t a surprise that the 31-year-old Gowtham is looking forward to spending some time along with members of his domestic team.

Hope we will dominate with Kannada in the dressing room: Krishnappa Gowtham

“I was pretty happy to go to KXIP because if you see, we have 5 Karnataka players, which is already a mini Karnataka team out there. When you have 5 of your teammates with whom you play for 6 months in a year together, you’ll be more than happy to be a part of that team,” Gowtham told host Adarsh Raman on Insta live with CricTracker.

Moreover, Gowtham is excited to hone his skills with Anil Kumble, who’s also from Karnataka, the head coach of the Punjab team. “And Anil (Kumble) Sir being the coach as well, nothing gets better. It’s the icing on the cake. That is something which you can’t take away. Also, hope we will dominate with Kannada in the dressing room,” Gowtham added.

In the last two seasons for the Royals, Gowtham managed 144 runs in 22 matches at a strike-rate of 173.49. He also bowled a lot in the powerplay, picking up 12 wickets at an economy of 7.97. Moreover, Gowtham was a part of the Mumbai Indians (MI) in 2017, but didn’t get to play a game. In the T20 format, he has 521 runs and 36 wickets from 56 contests.

His last competitive match was back in February against Bengal at the Eden Gardens in the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy. In the first-class tournament, he was one of Karnataka’s star performers, having scored 284 runs in six matches with a couple of half-centuries. Gowtham got 34 wickets as well, ending as their joint wicket-taker with Abhimanyu Mithun.