Gautam Gambhir led KKR to seven years of consecutive victories as captain. The squad won the IPL in 2012 and 2014 when he was in charge.
Gambhir said that when having dinner with a few pals at the team hotel prior of KKR’s fourth match, Ashish Nehra encouraged the former to eat a duck if he didn’t want to get out zero.
Gambhir said on ANI’s podcast:
“Four or five guys from Delhi were sitting together at the dinner table. Ashish Nehra ordered a duck. He told me to have the duck for dinner; otherwise, I might get another duck in the next match. I just tasted it. I scored one run in that match, and Nehra even messaged me after that.”
Gautam Gambhir
Gautam Gambhir also revealed specifics of his conversations with KKR co-owner Shah Rukh Khan after going out for a duck three times. He indicated that he wanted to leave the playing XI, but Shah Rukh did not agree with his decision.
“2014 in Abu Dhabi, I started the IPL with three ducks in a row,” he continued. “I got a one in the fourth game. We had lost four out of our first five matches. We were coming back to Ritz Carlton after we lost the game. He was standing in the lobby. He took me on the side and asked what was happening. I said I was thinking of dropping myself.
“He told me, ’till you are there and you want to be there, you are not dropping yourself,'” Gautam Gambhir added. “He asked me to promise him that I would play every game until I was there. I got two or three half-centuries in a row and we won in 2014. That was my only cricket conversation with him in seven years of my captaincy.”
Gautam Gambhir
Following a disastrous start, the Kolkata-based franchise produced a stunning comeback and eventually won the IPL 2024 championship.
Gautam Gambhir reveals his emotional return to KKR as mentor for IPL 2024
Gautam Gambhir joined the KKR team as a guide for the 2024 IPL season. This ex-player agreed to help because he feels a strong bond with the team.
When asked about joining KKR, he stated:
“It was a very, very emotional decision. It was a tough decision because I had some really good memories with Lucknow. But going back to KKR was something which was very emotional. From 2011 to 2017, there were a lot of emotions that were involved in creating a franchise and a legacy. The way they showed love when I was there for seven years was fantastic.”
Gautam Gambhir
Gambhir stated that Shah Rukh Khan asked him for the mentorship job. He continued, praising the KKR owner:
“Yes, he did (reach out to me). Whenever we talk, we talk in the Delhi way only. We don’t talk in a Mumbai way or any other way. It is two Delhiites talking. He has been fabulous. He has been one of the best owners I have ever worked with. In the seven years that I captained KKR, he had not spoken to me about cricket for even seven minutes. The first time we met, he told me, ‘This is your team; make it or break it’.”
Gautam Gambhir
Gautam Gambhir had a tremendous deal of success as KKR’s captain for seven years. The squad won the IPL in 2012 and 2014 under his guidance.