KKR mentor Gautam Gambhir’s winning way: No data, more gut feel and unflinching support to uncapped Indian players

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) all-rounder Ramandeep Singh vividly remembers what Gautam Gambhir told him in their first meeting. “On the very first day, he told me ‘you are going to play the entire season’. He told me that I will be batting at No.7 or 8, which will be very crucial and instructed me to prepare accordingly,” Ramandeep tells The Indian Express.

The 27-year-old has walloped 125 runs in just 62 balls, batting either at No.7 or No.8. Gambhir had panned out the roadmap to the finisher’s role and it was not written on a piece of paper or a 20-page pdf from the analysts.

“Gauti paji told me frankly ‘I know this is going to be the most difficult job. Hitting a fifty as an opener is an easy job but from you, I am expecting 15 off five balls and even if you fail, you have my word that I will back you. I just want you to make your practice as difficult as possible and play with absolute freedom.”

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗠𝗣𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦 𝗢𝗙 #𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗔𝗜𝗣𝗟 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 😍🏆

The 𝗞𝗢𝗟𝗞𝗔𝗧𝗔 𝗞𝗡𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗥𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗦! 💜#KKRvSRH | #Final | #TheFinalCall | @KKRiders pic.twitter.com/iEfmGOrHVp

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 26, 2024

Like Ramandeep now, Manvinder Bisla was also backed blindly by Gambhir in 2012. So much so that Gambhir even dropped Brendon McCullum, the guy who set the IPL on fire with his 73-ball 158 in the very first-ever match of the tournament in 2008. Bisla repaid that trust with a breathtaking 48-ball 89 in the 2012 IPL final to help KKR beat CSK.

“For him, it doesn’t matter if you are an international player or an Indian player or a domestic cricketer. For him, if you are a matchwinner, you will get all the support. One way of backing is giving a couple of matches to a player but for Gautam, it is about giving the player a longer rope,” Bisla says.

“Every season we see the success ratio of uncapped players is very less. Agar paanch chalenge toh pachaas gayab honge (Out of 50 only five will make a name for themselves). Gautam is different, he just knows how to get the best out of an uncapped player. He told me cut-to-cut in 2012 about what he wanted from me. Barring the final, I didn’t make any extraordinary contributions,” Bisla recalls.

No magic wand

Gambhir has played a pivotal role in India’s win in the final of the 2007 T20 World Cup and the ODI World Cup final in 2011 and led KKR to twin IPL titles in 2012 and 2014. He returned to KKR this season as a team mentor and has changed their fortunes with the Knights demolishing Sunrisers Hyderabad in the final by 8 wickets.

Too many things had changed since the last time Gambhir was at the helm. The Eden pitch was no longer suitable for the spinners, which had helped him turn it into a fortress during his seven years as KKR’s captain. The magic of Sunil Narine, his most trusted ally, had started to fade away. But in this tournament, Narine has smashed 488 runs at a strike rate of 180 and grabbed 17 wickets conceding only 6.71 runs an over.

“He doesn’t have a magic wand nor does he don any magical hat. Sunil Narine was given the liberty, ” laughs Rajat Bhatia, Gambhir’s former Delhi and KKR teammate.

“There is no special method. He keeps it very simple. You have to understand one thing as a captain when you start winning the tournaments, you just crack that formula. Gautam has led Delhi to the Ranji Trophy title, then he led KKR to two IPL trophies. He understands what kind of atmosphere is needed in the team to win the tournament. He has done exactly the same again,” Bhatia says.

“We always say that MS (Dhoni) is the greatest Indian captain of all time because he has won three ICC trophies and 5 IPL titles. He knows how to run a team and how to win a tournament. Gauti too has more or less the same formula.

“Virat Kohli was captain for so long, but he never won a single title for India or for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. He was lacking something as a captain. Even the great Sachin Tendulkar never produced the results as a captain. Whereas the likes of MS, Gauti and Rohit (In the IPL), they have won titles and they just know how to win,” he adds.

Bhatia says Gambhir never gives importance to individual achievements. “For him ‘Orange Cap’ or the ‘Purple Cap,’ these awards were never important. For him winning the IPL is utmost and he has tried to set that precedent in the dressing room.”

“Another facet of his leadership is giving role clarity to players, backing the youngsters. He has just recreated that old atmosphere. It is all about the choices that you make. The team is not repeating the old mistakes like it used to make in the previous seasons. Look at Rajasthan Royals for example, they always start brilliantly but end up complicating things.”

Goes by the gut feel

Speaking on Ravichandran Ashwin’s YouTube show, ‘Kutti Stories with Ash’, Gambhir said he is someone who doesn’t believe in long meetings and never goes by data and stats. “I’d never believed in data,” he said.

Piyush Chawla, who was one of the key members of the KKR side during Gambhir’s captaincy, sheds further light on his style.

“Lots of people talk about good cricket, following the process, but Gauti bhai is somebody who believes in results. He is not into data at all. He goes by his gut feeling. If there is a particular situation for him he just knows, which player will give him the best result exactly at that situation. He reads the game beautifully and reacts accordingly,” Chawla says.

“Sunil Narine is the classic example. Sunil Narine at 7 and 8 was not that impactful but now look at him,” points out Chawla.

Bisla points out four other examples of how Gambhir has turned KKR’s fortunes around.

“First and foremost let’s talk about Narine. For the past few seasons, he was just a walking wicket. Now he is one of the leading run-getters of the tournament. The way he got run out in their first game against the Sunrisers, other franchises would have dropped him, but not Gautam.

“Second, Phil Salt joins as a replacement for Jason Roy. Kolkata’s first-choice keeper was Rahmanullah Gurbaz. The Afghan has done reasonably well last season, but Gautam preferred Salt ahead of him and Salt and Narine forged a destructive opening partnership. Ramandeep is another fine example. No one knew about his capability. Next year, teams will line up for him at the auctions.

“And lastly, Mitchell Starc. KKR and Gautam got trolled for signing Starc for Rs 24.75 crores. Starc had an awful campaign, but barring one game due to injury, he was never dropped. That’s how far Gautam Gambhir can go while backing his player. He even played with his ego by not giving him the last overs, when games were on the line but he never benched him. Starc is a big match player and he turned up in the Qualifier 1 against Sunrisers Hyderabad (like he did in the final),” Bisla says.

The misunderstood one

R Ashwin has often called Gambhir the “most misunderstood” cricketer of the modern era. On Ashwin’s show, Gambhir opened up about this perception against him. He said: “I want to be as aggressive as I can be. And what’s wrong with that? That’s my nature. That’s my characteristic because, for me, winning is an obsession. I’m obsessed with winning.”

Gambhir had also spoken about the perceptions of him. “Sometimes when people talk about he doesn’t smile or love. He’s always intense, grumpy, walking on the edge, old and has his game face on,” he warmed up.

“People don’t come to watch me smile. Unfortunately, people come to watch me win. That’s the kind of profession we guys are in. I can’t help it. I’m not an entertainment. I’m not a Bollywood actor, or I’m not a corporate. I’m a cricketer into performing arts. My job is … I want to come back to a winning dressing room. Fortunately, unfortunately, a happy dressing room is a winning dressing room.”

He might populate viral memes of his aggression but former mates talk about his “relaxed” nature off the field. For Chawla, “He is the best human being one will ever come across.”

“Wo aapke liye goli kha sakta hai (He can take a bullet for you),” Bisla says. “He doesn’t believe in making friends on the field. Off the field, he is very relaxed. You will be surprised to see his other side. I think he is very misunderstood. If you see most of his fights, he is not the one who will instigate anyone but if provoked, he will not back down,” laughs Bisla.

Bhatia has the final word, “Don’t believe in everything you see on the camera.”

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