Gautam Gambhir was roped in by KKR as their new mentor ahead of the IPL 2024 season after the franchise finished seventh in 2022 and 2023
Following a faltering start to their journey in the Indian Premier League (IPL), with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) failing to make the playoffs in their first three seasons, Gautam Gambhir was roped in as a captain in 2011. KKR won two titles in the next three seasons. With the two-time champions having finished seventh in the table in 2023, KKR once again acquired Gambhir, but this time as a mentor. However, co-owner Shah Rukh Khan’s message to him remained exactly as it was 13 years back – “Make it or break it.”
Gautam Gambhir revealed Shah Rukh Khan’s message to him on returning to KKR
KKR have incurred a flurry of poor performances in the last five seasons, with 2021 being the only exception when they have reached the final. They finished fifth in both 2019 and 2020, and seventh in 2022 and 2023.
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Gambhir, under whose mentorship Lucknow Super Giants finished third in the last two IPL seasons, is expected to inject fresh vigour and discipline into the KKR squad, although his bond with head coach Chandrakant Pandit will be in focus.
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Expressing his gratitude, Gambhir, speaking at the Knights Unplugged event at the team hotel in Kolkata, stated, “Firstly, I want to say one thing — I’m a very tough guy to handle. I have to thank SRK (team principal owner Shah Rukh Khan) and Venky bhai (CEO Venky Mysore) who is here as well… They have taken a lot of my tantrums, stubbornness for such a long period of time.”
“Kyun ke sach yeh hai ki hum sachchai se ladna jaante hai, hum haar na jaante hai, aur hum jitna bhi jaante hain (Because the truth is that we know how to fight with honesty, we know how to lose, and we know how to win),” he added.
The 2011 World Cup-winning player then recalled his 2011 days in KKR which is when he revealed Shah Rukh’s fiery message to him in his return to the franchise as a mentor: “He only told me the same thing that he had told me when I joined KKR as a player in 2011: ‘This is your franchise, make it or break it.’ He told me exactly the same thing. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I can assure you that whenever I leave this place, we will be in a much better position.”
KKR will begin their IPL 2024 campaign on March 23 against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. As part of IPL’s fixture for the first leg, KKR will next play against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Match 29 in Bengaluru and against Delhi Capitals in Visakhapatnam on April 3.
