IPL 2018: Kolkata Knight Riders begin practice session without skipper Dinesh Karthik and coach Jacques Kallis

Kolkata: Man of the moment Dinesh Karthik was yet to join as skipper of his franchise as Kolkata Knight Riders sweated it out in their first practice session ahead of the 11th season of Indian Premier League on Monday.

General view of the IPL Trophy. Sportzpics

The newly-appointed KKR skipper's sensational 28 not out from eight balls in their last-ball win over Bangladesh in the T20 Tri-Series final last night has given a big boost to the Kolkata franchise who have overhauled the squad for the 11th season.

Karthik is expected to join the squad later this month along with coach Jacques Kallis, as KKR opted to begin their pre-season training with light warm-up sessions.

There was no net session as a total of 11 KKR players, including vice-captain Robin Uthappa, trained on the first day of the camp at the Jadavpur University second campus ground in Salt Lake.

The players included U-19 World Cup winning duo of Shubman Gill and Kamlesh Nagarkoti, veteran pacer R Vinay Kumar, Ishank Jaggi and West Indies recruit Javon Searless along with trainer Adrian Le Roux.

Two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders begin their campaign at home against Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore on 8 April.