Sandy Gordon’s one-liner had worked wonders for India at the 2003 World Cup. Sourav Ganguly’s side were decimated by Australia in their first game, when the Australian sports psychologist sat the players down and came up with a simple message: “Now or never.”
A team replete with excellent cricketers and more importantly, strong characters, bounced back to reach the final. Kolkata Knight Riders would like to borrow the phrase to initiate a turnaround, as they face Gujarat Titans, arguably the tournament’s most versatile side, at Eden Gardens on Monday.
The hard numbers say KKR have lost four of their first seven games and need to win five of the remaining seven to qualify for the playoffs. From that perspective, the fixture against GT is still not a win-or-bust affair. Wrong. Back-to-back home matches, against GT and Punjab Kings on April 26, have assumed immense significance for the defending IPL champions. Win them, and they would be firmly in the playoffs conversation. Slip-ups might take them almost to the point of no return.
Will Abhishek Nayar’s arrival change the team’s fortune? It happened quickly — Nayar losing his India team job and returning to the KKR fold. The franchise called this “homecoming” but they are still tight-lipped on his official designation. KKR have an assistant coach in Ottis Gibson, while Dwayne Bravo is the team mentor. Chandrakant Pandit sits on top as the head coach. Is it now or never for the latter as well?
After joining the KKR set-up in 2018, Nayar gradually grew in importance, not only as the assistant coach during the IPL, but as someone who looked after the players at the franchise’s academy in Mumbai as well. Players like Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh and Angkrish Raghuvanshi benefited from their one-on-one sessions with Nayar.
He might be an India discard, where he was part of Gautam Gambhir’s support staff as an assistant coach. But as regards KKR, the former Mumbai all-rounder has a lot of credit in the bank. The franchise had even made him the head coach of Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League.
Since his “homecoming” on Saturday, Nayar has been pretty hands-on at the KKR nets. On the match eve, he was very active — from rolling his arm over to giving throwdowns and having conversations with the players.
At the pre-match press conference, KKR’s spin-bowling coach Carl Crowe touched upon Nayar’s return to the set-up. “Obviously, Abhishek has been around the franchise for a long time. A very popular member of the coaching staff and the players communicate with him regularly for a number of years. So, it’s great to have Abhishek back and no doubt (he will) have a positive impact,” he said.
Crowe elaborated: “Obviously, last year, we were champions and he was a significant part of that. He speaks incredibly well about the game. He’s got a great connection and relationship with the players and I know they’re delighted to have him back with KKR.”
KKR are a mature franchise and it’s unlikely that they will sack the head coach mid-season unless Pandit’s position becomes untenable. In 2023, even after finishing seventh, they didn’t fire the veteran coach, but brought on Gautam Gambhir as the team mentor next term. The appointment made Pandit’s role a tad peripheral but it took the team to IPL glory.
Sport is a results-oriented business and the buck stops with the head coach. Unless the slide is arrested, Pandit will start walking a tightrope. All the while, Nayar’s shadow might get bigger on him.