"Ashish Nehra Ordered A Duck To Tease Me.."- Gautam Gambhir
Former India batter Gautam Gambhir recalls how he had a miserable start to the Indian Premier League (IPL) season in 2014. The then Kolkata Knight Riders’ captain got out on a duck in three back-to-back matches at the start of the tournament. Gambhir revealed a hilarious incident involving former pacer Ashish Nehra. Gambhir revealed that Ashish Nehra asked him to order a duck for dinner to not get out on a duck for a fourth time
Speaking on ANI’s podcast, Gambhir revealed, “Four or five guys from Delhi were sitting together at the dinner table. Ashish Nehra ordered a duck. He told me to have the duck for dinner; otherwise, I might get another duck in the next match. I just tasted it. I scored one run in that match, and Nehra even messaged me after that.”
Gautam Gambhir also shared the conversation he had with the co-owner of Kolkata Knight Riders Shah Rukh Khan after getting out for a duck on three consecutive occasions. He stated that he wanted to drop himself from the playing XI, but Shah Rukh didn’t agree with his decision.
Gautam Gambhir Reveals His Conversation With Shah Rukh Khan
“2014 in Abu Dhabi, I started the IPL with three ducks in a row,” he continued. “I got a one in the fourth game. We had lost four out of our first five matches. We were coming back to Ritz Carlton after we lost the game. He was standing in the lobby. He took me to the side and asked what was happening. I said I was thinking of dropping myself.”
“He told me, ’till you are there and you want to be there, you are not dropping yourself,’ He asked me to promise him that I would play every game until I was there. I got two or three half-centuries in a row and we won in 2014. That was my only cricket conversation with him in seven years of my captaincy.”
The Kolkata-based franchise scripted an epic comeback after a miserable start losing the first four out of five matches to win the tournament. Gautam Gambhir led the Kolkata Knight Riders to their second IPL title. After Gautam Gambhir departed from KKR, they failed to win any IPL title. The Kolkata-based franchise has appointed Gautam Gambhir as the new mentor of the team.
Gautam Gambhir has mentored the Lucknow Super Giants in two IPL seasons and under his mentorship, the team qualified for the playoffs both times. Now he is ready to help his former team to have a successful IPL 2024 campaign. Kolkata Knight Riders have not qualified for the playoffs in the past two seasons. They reached the finals in 2021 when Eoin Morgan was leading the side.
