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Abhishek Nayar in action. (FILE photo)
KOLKATA Knight Riders is all set to appoint Abhishek Nayar as their head coach for the forthcoming season. The Indian Express understands that Nayar was told about the franchise’s decision last week and a formal announcement is expected to be made soon. Nayar had joined the IPL franchise last year as support staff after he was removed as assistant coach of the Indian team.
The former Mumbai all-rounder had earlier worked for KKR and was their main man behind the scenes, taking care of grooming players in the academy. While the franchise parted ways with their head coach Chandrakant Pandit, the Kolkata team had recently zeroed in on Nayar’s name as his replacement. KKR had an ordinary IPL 2025 season where they failed to qualify for the play-offs. They managed to win only five games from their 14 league matches.
The 42-year-old joining as head coach didn’t come as a surprise especially after he has been working for the franchise for the past many years. Earlier this year, Nayar had taken up the role of head coach of Women’s Premier League (WPL) franchise UP Warriorz. It will be interesting to see if he continues to hold the role of head coach for two different franchises in separate leagues.
Nayar, known for his scouting eye and ability to draw out elite performances from various players, has been working with his old friend Rohit Sharma lately and he has helped him to transform his body where he shed more than 10 kilograms. Many players in the past have been helped by Nayar to transform their cricket, including KL Rahul.
Even though he has tasted success when dealing with players individually, his stint with the Indian team was seen as a failure. The batting group’s continued failures in Test cricket at home and abroad had put the spotlight on Nayar’s role. After its review meeting earlier, the BCCI had terminated the contract of its support staff which had back then been handpicked by the head coach Gautam Gambhir.
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