We were forced to: Dressing room unrest behind sacking Chandrakant Pandit? KKR CEO lifts the lid on overhauling coaching staff
Published - 06 Dec 2025, 09:24 AM
Ahead of the next season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have overhauled their coaching staff. The decision comes after their poor campaign in IPL 2025.
KKR were the defending champions but endured a terrible campaign as they failed to qualify for the playoffs. With only 5 wins from 14 matches, the three-time IPL winners finished at a disappointing eighth position in the league table.
Following the disappointing campaign, KKR sacked Chandrakant Pandit as their head coach and named Abhishek Nayar as his replacement. Apart from appointing Nayar as the head coach, KKR have also roped in Tim Southee and Shane Watson as the bowling coach and assistant coach respectively. Recently, Andre Russell was also confirmed as the 'power coach' for the franchise.
KKR CEO on Chandrakant Pandit's exit:
While not many eyebrows were raised when KKR decided to sack Pandit as their head coach earlier this year, the franchise's CEO Venky Mysore has hinted that there is more to it than meets the eye. In a recent interview, Mysore hinted that dressing room unrest was one of the reasons behind the sacking.
He stated that the franchise wanted to bring in contemporary cricketers and indirectly stated that the players did not connect much with Pandit.
"Why the reset is because we were forced to, no? Last year [after 2024 IPL] our coaching cabinet was cleaned out. [Gautam Gambhir, Abhishek Nayar, Ryan ten Doeschate, the KKR mentor and assistant coaches, took over coaching roles with Indian men's team]. But the learning really for me is, it's not a perfect science in terms of players who transition into coaching, and whether they can be as good as they were as players," Mysore told ESPNcricinfo.
"So the point I am making is their touchy-feely stuff around the game will be so strong because they were, [and are still] just playing it. And secondly, what happens is, the way they can relate to the players about what the players go through. So when you're in team meetings, strategy planning etc. the players also realise when it comes from them, these are people who have just been there, who have done it recently," he added.
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