File photo of KKR's IPL winning squad from 2014.© X (Twitter)
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ended a 10-year Indian Premier League (IPL) drought earlier this season, beating SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in a one-sided final. Prior to this season, KKR had last won an IPL trophy in 2014 back when Gautam Gambhir was the captain of the team. Incidentally, Gambhir made his return to KKR ahead of IPL 2024, joining the franchise as a mentor from Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). However, months after masterminding KKR's IPL triumph, Gambhir left the role to join the Indian men's cricket team as its head coach in July earlier this year.
Not only that, he also took Abhishek Nair and Ryan ten Doeschate, who were part of KKR's support staff, to join him as assistant coaches at India.
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 franchise legend Jacques Kallis as mentor.
For the unversed, 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.
Kallis played under Gambhir's leadership during KKR's title-winning seasons in 2012 and 2014.
Reports had earlier claimed that KKR are also interested in hiring Ricky Ponting and Kumar Sangakkara for the role.
Ponting left his role as head coach of Delhi Capitals earlier this year. Meanwhile, Sangakkara, who is currently the director of cricket at Rajasthan Royals, 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.
Dravid also has an excellent relationship with RR captain Sanju Samson, who came through the under-19 ranks while the former India captain was coaching the junior side.
Dravid also represented the Royals as player. He was the captain of the franchise in 2012 and 2013, and served as the team director and mentor in the 2014 and 2015 seasons.