Ex-CSK star decodes how Gautam Gambhir’s return working wonders for KKR: ‘If you keep it simple, it is easy’

Ambati Rayudu, a former batter for India, revealed how the return of Gautam Gambhir to the Kolkata Knight Riders team has been a huge benefit for them this season. Gambhir, who guided KKR to two IPL championships in 2012 and 2014, returned to the team in a spectacular way, but this time in the role of mentor. In order to rejoin his old team, he left the Lucknow Super Giants, and he had an immediate effect on the group.

This season, the Kolkata-based squad has dominated the game of cricket and qualified for the playoffs for the first time, all while guaranteeing a top-2 league finish. Gambhir pulled off a brilliant move by starting Sunil Narine alongside Phil Salt, the World No. 2 T20I batsman.

Narine has demonstrated incredible consistency in producing high scores in match after match. The Trinidadian has also been their top run scorer with a century and three fifties, scoring 461 runs at a strike rate of 183.94. Young players in the side like Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Harshit Rana have done well under Gambhir’s tutelage.

Gambhir has been leading the club in the correct path and giving players the freedom they need to perform at their best, according to Rayudu, who has previous IPL championships with the Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings.

“If the coaches take a back seat and work behind the scenes, and let the players take ownership, and let the players have the freedom in order to perform on the ground, these are the sort of teams that excel, and that is what KKR has been doing,” Rayudu said in an interview with Star Sports on Tuesday.

Rayudu, who has played for six different IPL winning teams, continued, “Gautam Gambhir is just facilitating them and guiding them in the right direction… If you keep it simple, it is easy.”

Meanwhile, the ongoing rain at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium forced the cancellation of KKR’s most recent game against the Gujarat Titans.

With 19 points from 13 games, it guaranteed that KKR would definitely finish in the top two and go to the Qualifier 1. With 11 points from 13 games, GT, the 2022 winners and runners-up from the previous season, are eliminated from the play-off competition.