After a gap of six years, Gautam Gambhir is back in the purple and gold jersey of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) franchise. This time, the former KKR captain will join the KKR coaching staff in the role of a mentor.
Gambhir had been the mentor for the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) franchise in IPL 2022 and 2023. He had significant success there as LSG reached the playoffs of both seasons, and under Gambhir’s mentorship, many young players did well, such as Ayush Badoni, while experienced players like Nicholas Pooran and Mark Wood found reinvigorated success in the IPL.
The KKR players will hope to get the best out of Gambhir’s experience, and in turn, they would like to bring their own best out as Gambhir marshals the troops.
IPL 2024: 3 KKR players who can benefit significantly from Gautam Gambhir as mentor:
Andre Russell
Andre Russell is KKR’s biggest match-winner. However, over recent years, that is since Gambhir left them as their skipper, it has been apparent that any new captain or coach has failed to utilise Russell’s abilities and potential. Russell hasn’t had a fixed position in the batting order while he has sometimes bowled in the powerplay and many times in the death overs, not giving any particular clarity about his tactics with the ball either.
Gautam Gambhir, who has a stable head of captaincy and has worked with Russell in the past in the all-rounder’s early years at KKR, would bring better plans and processes as to how to make the best use of Russell’s services as an all-rounder.
Shreyas Iyer
Gambhir has previously worked with Shreyas Iyer at Delhi Daredevils then in 2018 IPL. In fact, it was Gambhir who stepped down as Delhi’s coach mid-season and gave the captaincy duties to Shreyas after being impressed with Shreyas’ leadership qualities.
Now, Iyer is the skipper of KKR and reunites with his former Delhi skipper. Under Iyer, in IPL 2022, KKR finished 7th. Iyer’s India career has now taken off and he’s cemented his place in the Indian team and is also the vice-captain for the upcoming T20I series against Australia. Iyer will learn a great deal about captaincy on the field and leadership off the field from Gautam Gambhir.
Venkatesh Iyer
Madhya Pradesh all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer is someone who will have a bit extra attention on during the IPL 2024. Not only because he will play for KKR, but because he is an all-rounder with past international experience.
The Indian selectors will observe Venkatesh Iyer with a more scrutinized eye as India still don’t have a backup all-rounder for Hardik Pandya. Venkatesh had a brilliant IPL 2023, scoring 404 runs at a strike rate of 145, but he rarely bowled last season. Venkatesh Iyer could learn a lot from Gautam Gambhir on how to step up his game and give his all for the team.
