Jacques Kallis leading race to replace Gautam Gambhir as KKR mentor: Report

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won their third IPL title by beating Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in a one-sided final earlier this year. KKR had last won the IPL trophy back in 2014 when Gautam Gambhir was the captain of the team. Incidentally, Gambhir also made his return to the franchise as a mentory ahead of the 2024 season.

However, after guiding KKR to the title, Gambhir left to take up the role of Indian team’s head coach in July. Not only that, he also took both Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate who were a part of KKR’s support staff, as his assistant coaches.

However, KKR have already began the process to hire Gambhir’s replacement, who can assist head coach Chandrakant Pandit at the helm. According to a report in Sangbad Pratidin, KKR want to hire South African legend Jacques Kallis as their mentor.

Kallis has previously contributed to the franchise’s coaching staff, acting as head coach in 2015 and as a batting consultant during the same year. He also played under Gambhir’s captaincy during KKR’s title winning seasons in 2012 and 2014.

Reports had earlier stated that KKR were also looking at Kumar Sangakkara and Ricky Ponting to replace Gambhir.

Ponting left his role as head coach of Delhi Capitals (DC) earlier this year, while Sangakkara, who is currently the director of cricket at Rajasthan Royals (RR), had shown interest in taking up a new challenge. However, he is likely to stay at RR, with Rahul Dravid joining the franchise as head coach few days back.

 

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