The spotlight may be on Gautam Gambhir and Shah Rukh Khan when the Kolkata Knight Riders win their third IPL title by defeating the Sunrisers Hyderabad. Sunil Narine and Andre Russell are being praised, as expected. Mitchell Starc has delivered on the big occasion. Chandrakant Pandit becomes the first man to win both the IPL and the Ranji Trophy as head coach. However, when KKR celebrated on Sunday night, some players ensured that one unsung hero received proper recognition. What about the man in question? Assistant coach Abhishek Nayar
Following KKR’s victory in the 2024 IPL Final, Varun Chakravarthy and Venkatesh Iyer gave a glowing interview to Harsha Bhogle in which they discussed how much Abhishek Nayar contributed to their achievement.
“The person who constructed this Indian core is the only thing that comes to me right now. Abhishek Nayar is the principal man behind this, Chakravarthy stated.
And what a core of India that has been. Chakravarthy took 21 wickets in the match. Vaibhav Arora took 11 wickets, while Harshit Rana claimed 19. With 370 runs, Venkatesh Iyer scored. Angkrish Raghuvanshi, a teenage talent, scored fifty on his debut. Lower down the order, Ramandeep Singh was a revelation, making significant runs and making an impression on the field.
Venkatesh Iyer, who hit 52 off 26 balls in the IPL Final, added to the accolades. “Abhishek Nayar deserves all of the credit in this world. Some of his accomplishments go unrecognized, and I want to make sure they don’t.” Iyer was kept by KKR prior to the previous big auction in favour of Shubman Gill, symbolizing Nayar’s faith.
Abhishek Nayar has also contributed significantly to the development of KKR’s young Indian core. He has served as the KKR Academy’s mentor and head coach in addition to his role as assistant coach. Angkrish Raghuvanshi, 18, is one of the rising stars he has witnessed. His father, Avneesh, congratulated Nayar on Instagram.
