Gautam Gambhir Birthday Special: Five Changes Made By Former Kolkata Knight Riders Mentor Which Gave KKR Their Third IPL Title

The year of 2024 has been special for Gautam Gambhir. But all began in 2023 when he opted to leave the job of Lucknow Super Giants mentor and returned to Kolkata Knight Riders mentor. He also decided to give up politics and give his entire time to cricket. These small but impactful decisions ended up being extremely fruitful for him. Gambhir's return to KKR ensured them their third Indian Premier League (IPL) title, their first in ten years and then his success with KKR made BCCI appoint him as Team India's new head coach. As Gautam Gambhir celebrates his 43rd birthday and aims to make Team India world champion across formats, let us take a look at the changes he made in Kolkata Knight Riders as he took them to their third title. Gautam Gambhir Reveals Secret Behind Virat Kohli's Focus in Candid Chat with Star Indian Cricketer, Says 'Chanting Om Namah Shivaya Helped You Get Into that Zone'.

1. Fixing the Opening Combination:

Since the Venkatesh Iyer-Shubman Gill pair that took them to the final in 2021, KKR didn't have a settled opening combination till 2024. They tried different combinations of Aaron Finch, Baba Indrajith, Ajinkya Rahane, Sunil Narine, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Jason Roy but none of them could give them a settled and consistent output. Gambhir's choice to sign Phil Salt as Jason Roy's replacement and pairing him up with Sunil Narine at the tip gave KKR a destructive and consistent opening pair which took them to the title.

2. Trusting On Players:

Gautam Gambhir's key strength has been creating an atmosphere where there is enough security among the players. On several occasions, despite poor performances he has opted to put faith on his players and they have delivered when it mattered the most. The biggest example can be taken out of the example of Mitchell Starc who had a poor start to the tournament. Despite that, Gambhir showed faith on him and Starc won the man of the match award in the Qualifier 1 and the final.

3. Bolstering the New Ball Seam Attack:

Gautam Gambhir recognized that most teams are trying to capitalise on the powerplay overs to give the team a good start. That's why he went hard in the auction for Mitchell Starc and paired him up with another new ball specialist Vaibhav Arora. The new ball seam attack of Starc and Arora gave KKR the push by taking wickets upfront that took them to the title.

4. Bringing Out Best of Batter Sunil Narine and Bowler Andre Russell:

It has been a long time since Andre Russell bowled at this best and Sunil Narine showed his batting prowess. Both happened when Gautam Gambhir was the captain of KKR in 2017. In 2024, Gambhir returned to KKR and both cricketers again started to perform in their secondary skills and their value as all-rounders is what turned around KKR's fate in the IPL 2024 and gave them momentum.

5. Identifying the Real Values of Talent:

Gautam Gambhir always had the great eye for talent, which made him push players to places where they can actually shine. During his captaincy stint with KKR, his grooming of Suryakumar Yadav made the later a star T20 batter today. In IPL 2024, Gambhir did the same with the likes Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Harshit Rana, Venkatesh Iyer and Ramandeep Singh. He constantly pushed them at places where they could make an impact and they actually delivered taking KKR all the way to the title. Gautam Gambhir Dismisses Concerns Over Indian Batters’ Struggles Against Spin, Says ‘We Have Quality To Take On Any Spin Unit’.

Gautam Gambhir is more than just a coach. Since he has been a cricketer in the recent past, he knows the players more and how they think. His assertive character and intense communication helps players to find their zone more frequently and perform at their top of the game. Indian Cricket Team fans will hope that Gautam Gambhir will carry the same charisma with him in Team India and lead them to several titles during their stay.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 14, 2024 06:30 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).