BCCI faces dilemma over India's head coach role as Shah Rukh Khan wishes to keep Gautam Gambhir with KKR

The bond of mutual respect and love between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) co-owner Shah Rukh Khan and team mentor Gautam Gambhir could become a headache for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and secretary Jay Shah.

Actually, BCCI secretary Jay Shah and the board are reportedly keen to appoint Gambhir as the new head coach of the Indian cricket team after Rahul Dravid’s tenure ends with the conclusion of the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in the USA and Caribbean.

However, the deadline to apply for India’s head coach job ended on Monday, May 27, and there is still no confirmation whether the KKR mentor applied for the role, but the speculations are that the former Indian World Cup winner is a strong candidate to replace the current coach, Dravid.

Can Gautam Gambhir choose between SRK's KKR and Team India?

Notably, KKR ended their ten-year wait for an IPL title with a dominant 8-wicket win over the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the IPL 2024 final at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on May 26. It was KKR’s third IPL title and their first since 2014, leading to an emotional celebration involving players like Andres Russell, Sunil Narine, and co-owner Shah Rukh Khan.

Even the Bollywood superstar took a victory lap with his family after KKR's win and shared heartfelt moments with Gambhir, who had previously led KKR to two IPL titles in 2012 and 2014 as captain and now won one more as a mentor. However, one particularly touching moment that caught the public's attention was SRK giving Gambhir a kiss on the forehead.

Meanwhile, Gambhir and Shah Rukh Khan have a long-standing association, and their close bond is well-known to everyone. Gambhir's future decisions, including India’s head coach role, are likely to be influenced by his discussions with the KKR co-owner.

BCCI faces conundrum as Shah Rukh Khan wishes to keep Gambhir with KKR

In a recent video shared by KKR on Instagram, Shah Rukh expressed his desire to maintain the same team setup for future seasons in the IPL. While it might be challenging to retain all the players, keeping the support staff, including Gambhir, is certainly possible, which means there are very slim chances of the mentor taking up the high-profile job.

He cant's work with BCCI and KKR together due to a conflict of interest. It is highly unlikely that the Bollywood icon will let Gambhir go, as he brought him back to the KKR after a lot of effort, and now his return has already brought the IPL trophy to the team. So, SRK will certainly have a say in Gambhir’s decision on Team India’s coaching job prospects.

Shah Rukh Khan said in the video: “Wherever we go from here onwards, I wish you the best.I speak on behalf of Juhi, Jay, Jahnvi, Suhana. We wish we had the same team for the rest of our lives and you kept listening to my speeches and playing like this. I just have one request, which is my special thanks to GG. I have not thanked him specially.”

Watch Here:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kolkata Knight Riders (@kkriders)