This season, before the transfer of players from one team to another under the IPL trade window, the most talked about transfer was the return of Gautam Gambhir to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) as the team mentor. KKR, from which he had bitterly parted ways despite being a successful captain, has now returned to the same. So this is how Gautam Gambhir's IPL journey as a player went from Delhi Daredevils to Kolkata Knight Riders and then back to Delhi Capitals - his journey as a mentor is from Lucknow Super Giants to Kolkata Knight Riders. With the Lucknow team, he was not just a mentor in name – he was the think tank of the team. He was the identity of the team on and off the ground and no support staff/player could board a train/flight to Lucknow without his consent. It is clear that he would like a similar role in Kolkata Knight Riders but the question is whether this will be possible in Kolkata Knight Riders?
If we want to find the answer to this question, then first of all we have to discuss the question why did he go to Delhi from Kolkata Knight Riders? The most successful captain of Kolkata Knight Riders till date - so why did Kolkata Knight Riders not stop him from playing further? This is a pain which was suppressed with time but Kolkata Knight Riders has scratched it by giving him a new contract. This is one of the most controversial stories of IPL. Let's move on to IPL-
In the early years of the IPL, despite playing alongside many big players, KKR did not have a good record - ranking No. 6 in 2008 and 2010 and No. 8 in 2009. The same team came to number 4 in 2011, that is, its fortunes changed from 2011 and qualified for the playoffs for the first time. This turn-around was thanks to Gautam Gambhir, who was bought in the same season – the team had made him captain in the very first season.
And see – he became champion in 2012. Gautam Gambhir again picked up the team at number 7 in 2013 and made them champions in 2014. He was then considered the captain with magical touch in IPL. Now let's see the record till 2017. Gambhir was with the team from 2015 till then but could not win any other title – was number 5 in 2015, number 4 in 2016 and number 3 in 2017. With this record, Gautam Gambhir started irritating the team. Even though the period after that was even worse for the team (No. 3 in 2018, No. 5 in 2019 and 2020, final in UAE in 2021 and No. 7 in the 2022 and 2023 seasons), but at the time of breaking ties with Gautam Gambhir, It was thought that the new approach would again take the team's graph up.
This means that the two titles that the team won were won with Gautam Gambhir. Qualified for the playoffs 5 times from 2011 to 2017 and played the final of the now-defunct Champions League T20 in 2014. That's why he was a successful captain with KKR. So why not play for them after 2017?
Actually, due to the team not winning any title after 2014, the pressure on Gautam Gambhir was increasing and the biggest problem in this was that even with the bat, he was not scoring runs as before. In such a situation, he was feeling lonely and he also started realizing that now he would not be able to play much in the IPL. By then all the doors to Team India were closed for him anyway. As a result, he remembered returning home i.e. Delhi team. The then KKR coach Jacques Kallis also had a big contribution in creating this environment - he felt that Gautam Gambhir's style was so deeply ingrained in the team that no change could be brought about even if he tried.
Although it was never officially said that the coach had told the Kolkata Knight Riders team management that if the team's graph had to be changed then Gautam Gambhir's bag would have to be packed, but everyone knows the truth. The coach was adamant that he would not allow Gautam Gambhir to have any more 'negative influence' on his dressing room. Gautam Gambhir also knew all this and before he was dropped from the team, the way out was respectfully that Gautam Gambhir wanted to go back 'home' for the last years of his IPL career. Therefore, for 2018, Gautam Gambhir himself told the team not to retain him.
Then it was also said that he is not able to recover his fees of Rs 12.50 crore, hence the team is releasing him now but will buy him back at a cheaper price in the auction. Records of the 2018 auction show that when Gautam Gambhir's turn came, Delhi Daredevils, Rajasthan Royals and Punjab bid for him - not KKR. Gautam Gambhir, who was charging a fee of Rs 12.50 crore in Kolkata, was then sold for only Rs 2.80 crore and the Delhi team took him. On the first day of the auction, KKR CEO Venky Mysore told in an interview that Gautam Gambhir had requested him not to use bid or 'right to match' for him.
So in this way Gautam Gambhir came to Delhi in the 2018 season and was directly the captain. How did they know what was written in their destiny here? Delhi had a very poor start to the season - the team lost 5 out of the first 6 matches and in these, Gautam Gambhir did not do much apart from a 50 against Kings XI Punjab - only 85 runs in 5 innings at a strike-rate of 96.59. Make it. Result- Gautam Gambhir left the captaincy in the middle of the season but said that he will continue playing. After a few hours, Shreyas Iyer was made the new captain.
The first match under the captaincy of Shreyas Iyer was coincidentally against KKR and the Delhi team won the same but the interesting thing is that Gautam Gambhir's name was missing from the playing eleven. Then there was a big discussion that Gautam Gambhir himself set an example of not playing due to poor form and he was also praised for this but he kept shouting - I had not said that I will not play. There was no use in his shouting and Shreyas Iyer did not play him in any further matches of the season. Both kept blaming each other for not being included in the team and it is still a mystery as to who was responsible for their not playing? So imagine what kind of relationship would have been between Gautam Gambhir and Shreyas Iyer? Gautam Gambhir's IPL career ended with this.
Look at your luck, now in 2023, Gautam Gambhir has returned to Kolkata Knight Riders as a mentor and Shreyas Iyer is the captain there. The background is being created for another interesting story.
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