IPL 2025: Now that Gautam Gambhir has taken over the role of being India head coach, who replaces him as KKR mentor? A report in Sangbad Pratidin suggests that the KKR scouts have already started the hunt and former South African legend Jacques Kallis is a frontrunner for the role. Kallis has been part of the Knight Riders set-up. He was also an integral part of the 2012 and 2014 winning teams. Back then at KKR, Gambhir was the captain. Kallis has also been associated with the franchise in a different capacity apart from being a player. He was the batting consultant in 2015, and in 2016 – the following year – he replaced Trevor Bayliss as the head coach. So, he will not be new to the role at KKR. Apart from Kallis, the other two contenders KKR are contemplating over are Australian great Ricky Ponting and legendary Sri Lanka wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara.
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Why Kallis Over Ponting, Sangakkara?
It is actually very simple. Kallis has been part of the KKR set-up in various roles – from being a star player to coaching the side. He knows the culture at KKR and that helps in a franchise-based tournament. On the other hand, Ponting and Sangakkara, who have been part of franchises in the IPL would be new to the Knight Riders set-up. One thing is for sure, the three-time IPL champions would look to finalise the coach before the mega auction.
Meanwhile, the BCCI yet to announce the IPL Retention policy. A number of franchises would have their eyes on that. The Knights would start IPL 2025 as the defending champions.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) IPL 2024 squad: Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shreyas Iyer, Phil Salt, Sunil Narine, Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, KS Bharat, Chetan Sakariya, Mitchell Starc, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ramandeep Singh, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Mujeeb Ur Rehman, Dushmantha Chameera, Sakib Hussain.
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