South Africa great likely to replace Gautam Gambhir as mentor at Kolkata Knight Riders

Legendary South Africa allrounder Jacques Kallis could be the potential replacement for Gautam Gambhir in the Kolkata Knight Riders set-up. Gambhir was KKR's mentor for the 2024 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

But the former India opener had to leave his job as he was appointed as Team India's head coach recently. Under Gambhir's mentorship, KKR enjoyed a successful stint this year as they were crowned the IPL 2024 champions. This was their third IPL trophy in history and the first in ten years.

Gambhir was credited for maintaining an environment where the players were able to give their best. His advice to open with Sunil Narine turned out to be the turning moment as Narine enjoyed a highly successful season with the bat alongside picking up wickets with the ball.

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Jacques Kallis could be Gautam Gambhir's potential replacement for KKR

According to a report in Telegraph India, Kolkata Knight Riders are looking for a new mentor who can replace Gautam Gambhir. Former South African allrounder Jacques Kallis is considered for this position.

🚨📰| Jacques Kallis' name is going around as a potential replacement of Gautam Gambhir in KKR coaching set-up.

(Telegraph India) pic.twitter.com/sg2e6PhanY

— KnightRidersXtra (@KRxtra) July 11, 2024

Kallis has played for Kolkata Knight Riders before and was also a part of the KKR team that won the IPL 2012. It was KKR's first-ever IPL title and therefore, it was a special occasion for the franchise. Kallis played a key role in Knight Riders' win in the final as he scored 69 off 49 balls, which included 7 fours and a six. He also picked up a wicket with the ball.

Jacques Kallis has been KKR's coach before

Kallis was the coach of Kolkata Knight Riders from 2016 to 2019. Under him, KKR made it to three consecutive playoffs from 2016 to 2018. He resigned from the role after Knight Riders failed to make the playoffs in IPL 2019.

He joined KKR as a player in 2011 and parted ways with the franchise in 2019. The legendary allrounder has represented two IPL teams in his playing career. He joined Royal Challengers Bangalore in the inaugural season of IPL in 2008. Afterwards, he joined Kolkata Knight Riders in 2011.

Kallis is seen as one of the greatest all-rounders this game has ever seen. He was a classical right-handed batter who played both pace and spin equally well. Along with his batting, he was a skillful right-arm seam bowler as well. He has scored over 13000 runs in Test cricket at an astonishing average of 55.37. He scored 45 hundreds along the way. Alongside scoring runs, he also picked up 292 wickets in 166 Tests.

Kallis was also an important part of South Africa's line-up in ODIs where he scored over 11000 runs at an average of 44.36. The allrounder scored 17 hundreds and 86 fifties along the way. He also picked up 273 wickets in 328 ODIs.