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A couple of years later, after winning the IPL title with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in 2024, Phil Salt, former KKR opener, opened up on Gautam Gambhir's role in shaping the team for a triumphant season.
Salt revealed that it was Gautam Gambhir's masterplan to promote Sunil Narine as an opener, alongside Salt. That opening pair of Phil Salt and Sunil Narine rejuvenated the batting prowess, which helped Knight Riders to produce one of their most dominant seasons in IPL history.
It was Gautam Gambhir's idea to play Sunil Narine as an opener
They clinched full points from 9 out of 12 completed matches in the group stage of the IPL 2024 season. In the Qualifier 1 and in the final of the season, KKR slammed the Sunrisers Hyderabad to claim their third title. Sunil Narine, who played as an opener that season, ended as the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
Phil Salt claims that it was completely Gautam Gambhir's idea to utilise Narine as an opener, which could be a hit-and-miss instance. Gambhir himself knew it with Narine as an opener in which way the team could go.
Sunil Narine was not open to the proposed batting position
The Caribbean legend, before IPL 2024, was known mostly for his spin bowling and was not convinced by Gautam Gambhir's idea. Gambhir was KKR's mentor. As he had strong beliefs in his plans, he never felt tired of talking with the spinner.
Phil Salt says that even for hours, Gautam Gambhir, now the head coach of the Indian National Cricket Team, would have engaged with Sunil Narine to convince him to play as an opener. Narine ultimately agreed to play in that newly given role, which proved to be a blockbuster move.
Sunil Narine became the MVP by a long way: Sunil Narine
At the end of the season, there was a very marginal gap between Phil Salt's batting number and Sunil Narine's batting stats.
While Salt finished with 435 runs at a strike rate of 182, Narine amassed an incredible 488 runs at a strike rate of almost 181. Additionally, with that amount of runs from the blade, Narine snapped 17 wickets at an economy of 6.69 as well with the ball. Without any doubt, he was the MVP of IPL 2024.
“When I was with KKR and opened the batting with Sunil Narine for the entire season, it was Gambhir's plan, and he had the right idea. And he made it completely certain that everybody knew the road that we were going down and that the partnership won't click every time. But when it does happen, we win,” Phil Salt said in an interview with the Super Over Podcast.
“Gambhir must have sat in Sunny's (Narine) room for hours, trying to convince him to open because Sunny didn't want to at first. But he came around to the idea, and he became the MVP by a long way that year. The distance between Narine and me in the MVP race, and we were 1 and 2 mid-competition, was the same as the distance between MS Dhoni and me at 82,” he added.
