Gambhir is known for his intense and passionate demeanour, both on and off the field.
India’s new coach Gautam Gambhir joined the office on the back of winning the Indian Premier League (IPL 2024) season, after mentoring Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to their third title win.
Recounting the stellar season, KKR’s batting all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer opened up on how Gambhir’s approach is in the dressing room. Iyer also revealed about a specific meeting where Gambhir gave an incredibly moving speech following which KKR became unstoppable.
Gambhir is known for his intense and passionate demeanour, both on and off the field, as a player, commentator, and mentor in the IPL.
Venkatesh Iyer illustrates how Gambhir straightforwardly delivers hard truths.
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This incident Venkatesh referees to occurred just moments after the Punjab Kings achieved the highest successful chase in T20 cricket, surpassing the 262-run target set by the Knight Riders at Eden Gardens.
Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Venkatesh said, “We were all in shock, but what he told us was absolute truth,” Iyer says. “He told us that we didn’t bowl and we didn’t stick to our plans. The meeting we had that day was revolutionary because after that meeting, it’s our bowling that won us all the games in the IPL. That is a day that every KKR player remembers because that’s when things started to turn around for us.”
In the interim, Gambhir has started his coaching stint on a positive note as the Men in Blue won their first two games of the three-match T20I leg of the ongoing Sri Lanka tour.
Gambhir will hope India continues this sublime form when they lock horns with the Islanders in the ODI leg of the tour.
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