IPL: KKR mulls replacing Gautam Gambhir with Jacques Kallis as team mentor – Reports

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) - the IPL 2024 winners, mulls replacing Gautam Gambhir with Jacques Kallis as the new team mentor. Following switching bases from Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) to KKR ahead of the last season, Gambhir was instrumental in helping the team lift the trophy for the third time.

However, soon after tasting success with the franchise he captained before, Gautam took over the Team India head coach role, replacing Rahul Dravid.

Though his role runs until December 2027, Gambhir taking along Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate, who was also part of KKR’s backroom staff, is a bigger issue to resolve for the franchise. With Chandrakant Pandit continuing as KKR’s head coach, they seek a new mentor.

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Per a report in the Hindustan Times, KKR is mulling over bringing their former two-time IPL champion Kallis back into the coaching staff. Kallis, regarded as the greatest modern-day all-rounder, played for a few seasons for KKR before being appointed as their mentor in 2015 and head coach in 2016, replacing Trevor Bayliss.

Besides, the other contenders KKR is considering are former Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting and Rajasthan Royals’ Director of Operations Kumar Sangakkara.

Ponting left his job as DC head coach following IPL 2024, while Sangakkara’s RR appointed Rahul Dravid as their new head coach. Ponting, however, expressed his interest in coaching an IPL franchise sooner.

BCCI yet to release revised IPL auction rules

Following a high-profile meeting that included owners and stakeholders of all ten IPL teams, where everyone shared their thoughts on the retention list and Right to Match (RTM) card, the BCCI has yet to release the revised rules.

Per the previous rules exercised during the last mega auction in 2022, each team had four retentions, with the IPL council and BCCI removing the RTM card then.

However, ahead of the next mega auction, scheduled for December 2024,the oneshaving their bases set and tasted success have pushed for more retentions, somewhere around six or seven, while others have opted for no retentions.

Though the board might not consider this idea, the BCCI might settle around three or four retentions, excluding an RTM card.

The BCCI could make the verdict public anytime soon.

(With inputs from agencies)