Gautam Gambhir had a successfull stint with Kolkata Knight Riders, leading the franchise to two IPL titles during his reign. Gambhir is back with KKR for IPL 2024 but as a mentor and has made an instant impact with the franchise securing a top-two finish which means they will get two shots at making it to the title clash.
KKR, now captained by Shreyas Iyer, have been in red-hot form across departments with the team firing on all cylinders. They are the first team to book a playoffs berth this season having won nine of their 13 matches so far.
Gambhir, who is now part of KKR’s backroom staff, may have left lasting impression during his captaincy days but even he suffered a rare blip as a leader during that time.
There was a certain player going by the name of Suryakumar Yadav in KKR squad for as many as four seasons but the world’s current top-ranked T20I batter wasn’t able to fulfill his potential. Gambhir has taken the blame for that on himself and admitted it as the only regret of his captaincy career.
“A leader’s role is to identify the best potential and show it to the world. If there is one regret I have in my seven years of captaincy is that me and as a team never managed to use Suryakumar Yadav to the best of his potential,” Gambhir told Sportskeeda.
“And the reason was down to combinations. You can only play one player at No. 3. And as a leader, you have to think about the other 10 players in the XI as well. He would have been way more effective at No. 3, but was equally good at No. 7,” he added.
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Suryakumar made his IPL debut for Mumbai Indians but only managed to play in one game before he was released. KKR signed him ahead of IPL 2014 and in 54matches, spread across four seasons, he managed just 608 runs.
In a stark contrast, Suryakumar racked up 605 runs in 16 matches last season.
Despite not getting to bat in the top-order, Gambhir says Suryakumar never complained. “He was also a team man. Anyone can be a good player, but being a team man is a difficult task. Whether you play him at No. 6 or 7 or bench him, he was always smiling and always ready to perform for the team. That is why we appointed him as the vice-captain,” Gambhir said.
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