Former India opener Gautam Gambhir has been appointed team mentor by the Lucknow-based franchise for the next year’s edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Gambhir’s appointment on Saturday (December 18) made him the second big-name signing by the Lucknow side in their support staff after roping in Andy Flower as the head coach.
Gambhir’s cricketing credentials aren’t up for doubt or debate. The left-hand batter played 58 Tests, 147 ODIs and 37 T20Is for India. He was part of India’s No.1 ranked Test side back in 2009-11 and was one of the heroes of the 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ODI World Cup wins. Gambhir’s exploits in the finals of the two events are the stuff of legends.
In the IPL, he played for Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Gambhir began his journey with the Delhi franchise and performed well with the bat, but his best came out in the KKR set-up as he led the Kolkata-based side to two IPL titles in 2012 and 2014. Gambhir played a total of 154 IPL matches with 4,217 runs at a strike-rate of 123.88.
Many are backing Gambhir’s leadership skills to combine well with the technical and tactical know-how of Flower and lay the right foundation for the Lucknow franchise to start off their journey.
“Gautam has an impeccable career record. I respect his cricketing mind and look forward to working with him,”
said Sanjiv Goenka, the owner of the RPSG, which bought the yet-to-be-named Lucknow franchise for a jaw-dropping sum of INR 7,090 crores from the BCCI earlier this year.
Gambhir, on his part, expressed his gratitude towards Goenka and Lucknow franchise for giving him the opportunity to make a difference to a cricket team again. The cricketer turned politician said he will try and leave his mark for the team and the people of Uttar Pradesh, with Lucknow becoming the first IPL team based in India’s largest state.
Post-retirement from all forms of the game in December 2018, Gambhir’s only association with cricket was limited to commentary and broadcasting work with Star Sports. The stint with Lucknow will be his first with a cricket team since he returned to the Delhi side back in IPL 2018 but selflessly gave up the captaincy midway through the season owing to poor form with the bat, allowing the management to drop him on merit.
The Lucknow franchise earlier brought Flower into their fold, who is renowned as one of the world’s finest contemporary coaches with a proven record. Flower, a Zimbabwean batting great, was involved for 12 years with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) as coach in various age groups. His biggest success came with the England men’s national side, for whom he oversaw Test series wins in Australia and India besides achieving the No.1 Test rank. England also won the 2010 T20 World Cup under Flower’s watch.
Flower has also had a successful plunge in franchise T20 cricket where he has already supervised Multan Sultans’ title-winning campaign in Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2021. In the IPL, Flower was part of the support staff for Punjab Kings (PBKS) till the end of IPL 2021. But resigned from his post recently.
