Back in July last year, after Gautam Gambhir was appointed as India coach and took Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate with him to the Indian team set-up, this correspondent had sent a WhatsApp message to Venky Mysore, congratulating him and Kolkata Knight Riders for mother-henning another international coach. The response from the KKR CEO and managing director was light-hearted: “Haha! Would be nice if they left our coaches alone for sometime!”
KKR, a very successful franchise in terms of winning titles and nurturing talents, have shaped several coaching careers – from Trevor Bayliss to Brendon McCallum and Gambhir. It is also a very resilient franchise, usually not prone to knee-jerk reactions. This apparently gives Chandrakant Pandit some breathing space. A mid-season sacking of the head coach is unlikely even if KKR fail to turn things around, RevSportz understands. At the same time, Pandit probably has five games to save his job.
The defending IPL champions will have to win their remaining five group league matches to secure a playoff berth. A tally of 14 or 15 points still might take them there, but they will have to wait for other results in that case. Can KKR go on a five-game winning spree? They have done it in the past. This time, though, things appear a little different.
After the washout against Punjab Kings that saw the two teams share the spoils, Vaibhav Arora came for the post-match press conference and said: “A point is better than not getting anything. Who knows, this one point might eventually help us qualify for the playoffs.” The KKR seamer’s comment came on the heels of team mentor Dwayne Bravo talking about a batting unit that has “lost confidence”. Batting-wise, KKR’s problems this term have been starting at the top and running through the middle. And there is little indication that the head coach has a solution to it. Even if he is trying, it’s not reflecting in the performances of the players.
In 2023, after KKR had finished seventh in the points table, the murmurs grew louder about Pandit losing his job. The KKR hierarchy didn’t issue a pink slip to him but brought in Gambhir as the team mentor, making the former’s role a tad peripheral. Back in 2023, Pandit’s old-school man-management style reportedly rubbed some players the wrong way. Former South Africa and Namibia all-rounder David Wiese even went to the extent of calling the 63-year-old “a very militant type of coach” on the ‘Hitman for Hire: A year in the life of a franchise cricketer’ podcast.
Gambhir’s arrival was like a breath of fresh air. Not only did he take the decision to promote Sunil Narine as an opener. His off-the-field man-management allowed the Russells and the Narines play unfettered. After the team’s title triumph, both Andre Russell and Narine lavished praise on KKR’s erstwhile mentor. The likes of Varun Chakravarthy and Venkatesh Iyer publicly acknowledged assistant coach Abhishek Nayar’s contribution. Very few spoke about Pandit.
This season also, the former Mumbai and India wicketkeeper-batsman is said to be having issues with some players. Grapevine has it that an overseas player was taken aback when Pandit questioned him for going out for dinner with a rival team player, notwithstanding that they are teammates in their national side.
KKR acted swiftly to bring Nayar back to the fold after he was relieved of his duties as the Indian team assistant coach. Ever since his “homecoming” last week, the ex-Mumbai all-rounder has been pretty hands-on during the team’s training sessions, although the franchise is still tight-lipped on his official designation.
There’s a chance of Nayar getting a bigger role going ahead. Also, if a dramatic turnaround doesn’t happen, there could a possibility of the three-time IPL champions sounding out Eoin Morgan. As England captain, Morgan had given a new white-ball template to the world. As KKR skipper, he masterminded a spectacular comeback in 2021, taking the team to the final from almost the point of no return. Even MS Dhoni had tipped his hat to KKR’s resurgence after winning the title.
Morgan still calls KKR “my team”. He is in excellent terms with the franchise management. Whether he will be considered for the next season is something for the future. At the moment, Pandit is teetering on the brink.
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