Charismatic West Indian Dwayne Bravo, who replaced Gautam Gambhir as mentor at Kolkata Knight Riders, on Thursday said he’ll mix some elements from the previous KKR strategist’s blueprint together with his own distinct style for a successful campaign within the upcoming IPL. With Gambhir playing a key role behind the scenes, KKR won their third IPL title last season. The reigning champions have turned to Bravo ahead of the IPL 2025 season, following the departure of Gambhir who’s now the top coach of the Indian team. “Unfortunately, we lost some players. But I feel GG had his style, I even have my style. We’re each successful in our own ways,” Bravo said, making it clear that while he respects Gambhir’s legacy, he’ll bring his own methods to the role.
The previous West Indies skipper though admitted to reaching out to Gambhir for insights.
“Definitely, I messaged him a number of times and stuff. But again, I can be leaning rather a lot on these guys because that they had a successful formula. And it is vital that we follow that formula,” he said during KKR’s first media interaction ahead of the upcoming season.
Bravo emphasised the necessity to study and adopt elements of last season’s success and it was needed to maintain the core of the side intact.
“I feel it should be disrespectful of me to not try to discover a number of the good things he did last season. But in addition, the core of the team is here.
“And that is our responsibility, coach, myself, Venky sir to return into the auction and check out our greatest to get back. It was our duty to enter the auction and check out to get back as much as the identical squad of players from the championship-winning team. And we were in a position to get that,” added the 41-year-old.
Having released Venkatesh Iyer earlier, KKR went all out within the auction for the explosive batter and purchased him back for Rs 23.75 crore, making him the third costliest buy, after Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer.
Given his long-standing association with Chennai Super Kings, Bravo’s appointment got here as a surprise. However the Trinidadian is happy about working with Shah Rukh Khan and hailed KKR as the most effective franchises within the league.
“I feel it is sweet to have a boss like Shah Rukh who is certainly really invested in the sport. My very first thing began off with the Trinbago Knight Riders when he first bought the team.
“I used to be the happiest person on the planet to know that somebody like him showed that interest to purchase a team within the Caribbean. But not only within the Caribbean, but my hometown. And I used to be in a position to help construct Trinbago Knight Riders, one in all, to today, probably the most successful franchises in CPL history.
“That energy and that vibe, I’m going to attempt to bring that here as well. It’s already a successful team. Behind MI and CSK, we’ve got the third most trophies in the cupboard and we glance to construct on that.” KKR will kick off IPL 2025 by taking up Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Eden Gardens on March 22.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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