Kolkata Knight Riders Launches First-Of-Its-Kind KKR Academy, Appoints Abhishek Nayar As Coach

In a first of its kind, Kolkata Knight Riders, on Wednesday (July 11), announced the launch of ‘KKR Academy’. The two-time IPL champions have started the initiative to provide ‘excellent’ off-season training facilities and coaching to the players in the squad. The academy has already started its operation. On Monday, it had its first camp at Just Cricket Indoor Stadium in Bangalore.

Veteran batsman Abhishek Nayar has been given the role of the head coach at the academy. This is not the first time Nayar is associated with the franchise. Earlier this year he had operated as a consultant to the first team during IPL 2018. He had also served as a mentor to KKR captain Dinesh Karthik in personal capacity. AR Srikkanth, the franchise’s video analyst and Omkar Salvi will assist Nayar.

Expressing his delight over the appointment, Nayar told KKR’s website:

“Post the IPL season, I had a meeting with Venky Sir to discuss the ways forward. And he was very keen on starting something where we can help the cricketers throughout the year. A lot of times, what happens is that we come into the IPL and pick players based on their talent. Whether or not they do well depends on their own preparations. So we thought as to what we can do to affect that – to find a change where we can add a little more value to a cricketer’s career and not just come and practice, do well in the IPL, and go away.

“The idea was to have a journey with them wherein you’re taking care of them, understanding them, their problems, and the small difficulties they face through a season, not only in the IPL but in the Ranji trophy or in (domestic) T20s, basically everything that comprises the overall growth of a cricketer,” Nayar added.

In the first camp, the likes of Rinku Singh, Apoorv Wankhede, Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill will take part. Five more cricketers will join the camp soon and will join in the training sessions which will include physical conditioning work apart from skill training on different types of pitches.

Venky Mysore, the franchise’s CEO, said that the academy is another step towards achieving professionalism for the franchise.

“The idea of KKR Academy has been part of our vision with a view to helping our cricketers improve their skills and fitness as well as grooming talent and providing them a perfect platform to showcase their skills. This is another step in the professionalisation of the Knight Riders franchise,” said KKR’s CEO Venky Mysore.

The Knight Riders have already expressed expressed their displeasure over building squads as large as 27. They claimed that large squads leaves young and fringe players playing just bit-part roles in the team nets. Earlier this year, they built a 19-member squad. As a result, several youngsters like Gill, Rinku and Shivam Mavi got several chances. The team also did reasonably well, punching above its weight to make it to the playoffs.