"Who decides Credit?" Gautam Gambhir ripped off, denied any contribution for KKR's IPL 2024 win
Published - 01 Apr 2025, 06:03 PM | Updated - 01 Apr 2025, 11:42 PM
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Former India and Bengal cricketer Arun Lal has given a shocking statement that Gautam Gambhir doesn't deserve the credit for KKR's title win in IPL 2024. Lal feels that the head coach, Chandrakant Pandit, should be given the credit instead of Gambhir.
Gautam Gambhir was the mentor of Kolkata Knight Riders for IPL 2024 and had a key role in the team's title win last year. His tuning with the head coach Chandrakant Pandit worked perfectly for the team as KKR clinched their first IPL title in a decade.
"The coach takes the credit" - Arun Lal
During an interview with RevSportz, Arun Lal was asked about Chandrakant Pandit's performance as the head coach without Gautam Gambhir. Lal disagreed to give Gambhir all the credit and claimed that Pandit had a big role to play in KKR's title win.
"He’s won an IPL, hasn’t he? He’s also won Ranji Trophies," Lal replied when Pandit's role was questioned without Gambhir.
"He (Chandrakant Pandit) is still the coach, isn’t he? The coach takes the credit. He is the ultimate authority. The buck stops there," Lal added.
Chandrakant Pandit has been KKR's head coach since IPL 2023. The team finished seventh in the points table in its first year as the head coach in 2023. However, Gautam Gambhir joined the team the next year to make a huge difference.
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Arun Lal on Gautam Gambhir taking the credit for KKR's win
Further speaking in the same interview, Arun Lal questioned the credit for the win being taken by Gautam Gambhir. Lal claimed that the captain and the coach decide most of the team's composition, and they deserve both credit and criticism.
"Who decides credit? Ultimately, it means little. The captain and the coach form 90% of the team. So, they get both the credit and the criticism," Lal mentioned.
While Chandrakant Pandit was the head coach of KKR last year, Shreyas Iyer was the team's captain. The team functioned quite well under their leadership and won their third ever IPL trophy.
However, KKR saw a no. of changes before the IPL 2025 mega auction. Shreyas Iyer decided to go into the auction instead of getting retained by the franchise. Some key players of the team, like Phil Salt and Mitchell Starc, also went to other teams, and the defending champions had to rethink their winning composition.
Gautam Gambhir himself resigned from the post as he got an offer to become India's head coach. He is still serving in the role, but his role at KKR, both as a captain and a mentor, cannot be undermined.
KKR off to a poor start in IPL 2025
The defending champions haven't had a great start to their IPL 2025 campaign under the captaincy of Ajinkya Rahane. They lost the first match to Royal Challengers Bengaluru by a big margin, but came back strongly against Rajasthan Royals.
However, they were completely outplayed by their nemesis Mumbai Indians, in their third match of the season. MI defeated Knight Riders by 8 wickets with 43 balls remaining.
