In case they had to choose between Gautam Gambhir and Abhishek Nayar, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) management would rather abdicate the former. Despite his experience, inspiration, and a new-found connection with the fans mentor Gambhir brought, the assistant coach Nayar set the foundation for KKR’s success in IPL 2024, an admired figure within the club, but underrated outside.
Always, it has been clear that the ex-Mumbai and Indian batsman had a great fate awaiting him. Presently, he is rightly poised to join the male national team in the forthcoming trip to Sri Lanka as a deputy coach before officially taking the job of coaching on batting.
Here Are The 3 Strong Reasons Why Abhishek Nayar Is Ideal As India Men’s Batting Coach:
#1 Nayar can bridge the gap between Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir
Rhlit Sharma has made his admiration and love for Rahul Dravid and his processes very clear after winning the 2024 T20 World Cup in India. As teammates, their bond was way deeper and stronger, driving the team forward as a coach and captain unit focused on an achievable set of objectives, as well as creating a less serious and friendlier ambience within the dressing room.
Nayar can be the bridge and that suits him perfectly in the short term. This means Gambhir is going to be a different sort of person compared to Dravid. That doesn’t mean he won’t be fun or understanding if the need arises for this from time to time; rather, it’s about how he does things and communicates them which might be quite dissimilar from Dravid’s.
In the past, he has worked with Rohit for a long time, including on his fitness, mindset, and also in his most difficult moments after the snub from the 2011 World Cup squad. His choice by Gambhir, as evidenced by it having been no one else but him who was asked to be a part of the backroom staff, was a clear indicator of the trust he had in him.
India must guarantee that the transition from Dravid to Gambhir is as seamless as possible, given there is an ICC cricket tournament every year. Nayar’s appointment could act as a pacifier to the leadership group, thus redirecting the future of the team.
#2 India needs more modern coaches
The Dravid coaching department was filled with traditional-conscious, experienced coaches who could build Indian cricket’s basics. That is to say, they did it well. Having been appointed as Head Coach, B. Arun’s moving to Gambhir shows BCCI’s desire to take things a notch higher.
Coach Nayar has a modern approach just like him, he would come along with fresh concepts all at same time understanding the present game environment and having an idea of what lies ahead so much that he advocates for a team that is capable of adapting to such changes as well as taking calculated risks.
For Nayar’s coaching, an enormous percentage is dedicated to enhancing a batter’s set of shots; the likes of Dinesh Karthik and Rinku Singh commands were given this knowledge by him. If he ever has enough time to train the whole batting side, there might be a revolution in Indian cricket due to his touches, particularly in the one-day formats where the players can realize their true talents.
He praises Vikram for enhancing tail-end batting, sharing the same goal. Nayar plans to include players like Harshit Rana to strengthen batting without weakening bowling. Looking ahead to 2024, his focus on role clarity could revolutionize India’s batting strategy, akin to KKR’s approach.
#3 Nayar has a history of bringing exceptional cricketers into the set-up
You now know about Rohit and Karthik. Below is the Excerpt the did Interview with Sports Keeda Angkrish Raghuvanshi who is a Youth in KKR sometime back this year:
“I felt like Abhishek sir is my family so I didn’t stay away from family for too long. He treated me like I was his family and every day used to motivate me to work harder.”
At the age of 11 in Delhi, Angkrish received mentorship from Nayar, and subsequently, when Angkrish moved to Mumbai, he stayed with Nayar. Very few coaches in the country can be able to boast of having taken care of a cricket player from a young life such that he become a leading talent that can be included in winning IPL XI.
KKR’s trust in Nayar running their Mumbai academy speaks volumes about his talent for sharpening different people’s technical aspects as well as psychological ones when nobody is watching.
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