Kolkata Knight Riders’ mentor Gautam Gambhir feels the franchise need to be honest to their passionate fans. KKR finished the previous season at the seventh place with six wins and eight losses and they will aim to come up with a collective effort in the upcoming season.
Nitish Rana had led the franchise in the absence of injured Shreyas Iyer in IPL 2023. However, Iyer will take back the captaincy baton and he will be under pressure to prove his mettle after being excluded from BCCI’s central contract list.
Gambhir said they need to play competitive cricket from the very first game and urged his players to be consistent throughout the tournament as he feels IPL is the toughest league in the world.
“I made it very clear on Day 1 that IPL for me, a serious cricket. It’s not about Bollywood, it’s not about you, it’s not about after party and stuff. It’s about going out there and playing competitive cricket and that’s the reason why I feel is the toughest league in the world because it is proper cricket,” Gambhir said on Star Sports.
“It is probably closest to international cricket as compared to any other league and if you want to be known as a successful franchise, you should be able to deliver on the cricket field,” he added.
On the other hand, Gambhir led KKR to two titles in the IPL in 2012 and 2014. The former KKR skipper called Kolkata’s fans as passionate and feels the team needs to deliver for them.
“I think there are very passionate fans. We need to be honest to them. We need to try and probably bring that happiness on their smiles because I’ve always believed I think the most loyal fans have been fans from Kolkata because they’ve gone through a lot in the first three years of the IPL,” Gambhir said.
“Obviously it was the most high profile team as well. But I’ve always been a believer that ultimately it’s not about glamour. It’s about what we do on the cricket fields is all that matters and KKR should not be known for off field activities. They should be known for what we deliver on the cricket field,” concluded the KKR mentor.
KKR will begin their IPL 2024 against Sunrisers Hyderabad on March 23.
