Former India batter Gautam Gambhir will likely be returning to his previous IPL franchise, Kolkata Knight Riders as a mentor for the upcoming season. The 2011 World Cup champion had earlier led KKR to 2 IPL title in 2012 and 2014. In his seven-year stint with the group, he has taken KKR to new heights and completed as one of many best batters of the match. Gambhir, who earlier mentored Lucknow Tremendous Giants in IPL 2022 and 2023, just lately opened up about his bond with KKR co-owner and Bollywood celebrity, Shah Rukh Khan.

Gambhir revealed that how Shah Rukh motivated him throughout his preliminary struggles in IPL 2014 after he had determined to drop himself.

“In 2014, throughout the IPL in Abu Dhabi, I started with three consecutive geese. Within the fourth recreation, I managed to attain one run. With 4 losses in our first 5 matches, as we returned to Ritz Carlton after one other defeat, Shah Rukh Khan stood within the foyer. He pulled me apart and inquired in regards to the state of affairs. I discussed I used to be considering dropping myself,” Gambhir stated on ANI’s Smita Prakash podcast.

“He stated, ‘So long as you are dedicated and need to be a part of the group, do not contemplate dropping your self.’ He urged me to vow that I would play each recreation so long as I used to be there. I managed to attain two or three half-centuries consecutively, and we emerged victorious in 2014. Surprisingly, that turned out to be my solely cricket-related dialog with him in my seven years of
captaincy,” Gambhir added.

Gambhir acquired dismissed for duck within the first two video games of IPL 2014 and scored just one run within the third match. Nonetheless, that season turned out to be nice one for him as he completed with 335 runs in 16 matches.

His group KKR had misplaced first 5 video games out of seven however then went to register 9 consecutive wins, together with the summit conflict towards Punjab Kings.