From Kolkata Knight Riders’ perspective, the one common factor across all their title wins has been Gautam Gambhir, under whose captaincy the team won their first two titles in 2012 and 2014, and on his return as a mentor ahead of the 2024 IPL season, the former India opener infused the passion and hunger in the setup that has been missing over the past few seasons.
On Sunday, the triumphant outfit, expectedly drenched in emotion after their third Indian Premier League (IPL) title win, also highlighted the contributions of assistant coach Abhishek Nayar and former captain Dinesh Karthik for shaping the team into a championship-winning force.
While Gambhir’s presence in the dressing room changed the atmosphere in the purple outfit as he didn’t hesitate to take risky calls like promoting Narine to open the innings, and encouraged flexibility in the batting line-up that could adapt to any situations as KKR lost just three matches en-route to the 2024 IPL final, Nayar’s contribution has been more in the technical aspect of things which Varun Chakravarthy highlighted after KKR outclassed the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the title clash by eight wickets at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
Nayar joined KKR way back in 2018 and worked with the young Indian players to groom them. He was often seen helping out young talents like Rinku Singh, Venkatesh Iyer, Angkrish Raghuvanshi and others.
KKR’s leading wicket-taker of the season Varun pointed out Nayar’s contributions to the team over the years. “All I can think of right now is the person who’s built this Indian core. Obviously the international players have been doing very well always, but the main guy behind this is Mr Abhishek Nayar,” he said.
“It’s a result of hard work. Credit goes to two main people, Dinesh Karthik and Abhishek Nayar. They are the guys who set the Indian core about five years back and that’s bearing fruits now. You can bowl at any other ground if you’ve bowled at Eden Gardens. It’s such a small ground, smaller than the TNPL grounds.”
Venkatesh Iyer, who was the hero with the bat for KKR in the summit clash, with an unbeaten 52 off just 26 balls, echoed Varun’s words, saying that some things go unnoticed when the team tastes success, but wanted to make sure Nayar got the credit he deserves.
“As Varun mentioned, credit has to go to Abhishek Nayar. You know certain things go unnoticed. I’ll make sure that they don’t go because that guy deserves all the credit in the world for the way he’s been working for this franchise,” Iyer told the broadcasters after the game.
“And this one is for the fans who turned up in huge numbers year after year, waiting for 10 years. We have some superstars in our team still we did not win, but kudos to the fans who came in regularly to cheer and support us, this is for them,” Iyer added.
Meanwhile, Nayar said the victory meant everything to them as it took him 16 years before he won the championship.
“It means everything. It has taken a very long time. Personally started playing in the IPL in the first season. It’s taken me 16 years before I got my championship, but I’m really happy for the boys. It’s been 5-6 years. I can’t express how happy I am. Can’t express it, with the big man (Russell) turning up as usual, but it’s the most surreal feeling that I’ve had in a very long time,” Nayar said.
Andre Russell, who has been a regular at the franchise, however, was effusive in his praise for Gambhir, and highlighted the positive changes brought in by the former India opener, who rejoined KKR ahead of the 2024 season after parting ways in 2018.
“GG (Gautam Gambhir) has not just been a mentor, he’s been a leader in every department for us, and I think that’s what was key to our success. He made sure that every batter and every bowler was playing their part and GG is just an amazing guy to be in any set-up,” the West Indian all-rounder said.
“The support staff always gave us what we wanted, made sure that we were satisfied leaving the nets and everything played a big part leading up to this championship. GG coming back, winning the IPL, amazing support staff, you don’t need anything more than that,” added an emotional Russell.