Shreyas Iyer will be the ideal candidate for Indian team captaincy, said Kolkata Knight Riders head coach Chandrakant Pandit after Iyer led the KKR to IPL 2024 title win.
Under Iyer’s leadership, KKR dominated the IPL 2024 season, defeating SRH by eight wickets on Sunday (May 26) to win the championship. The victory in Chennai helped KKR end a decade-long wait for their third IPL title and repeat as champions.
Pandit, who faced criticism for his coaching style before the start of the season, was impressed with Iyer’s leadership abilities in the IPL 2024 and believes the 29-year-old Mumbaikar might be an excellent contender for India’s captaincy.
In his praise for the right-handed batter, who became the fifth Indian to win the IPL title as captain, Pandit said to Times of India,” I would give a lot of credit to Shreyas. He’s been a fantastic captain, very calm and cool. He was receptive to our suggestions and handled the team well on and off the field.”
“With KKR, he showed the qualities which make him worthy of India captaincy in the future. I remember that he told me, ‘Sir, I’ll prove it.’ The way he has batted in this IPL, he now seems to be a more mature, sensible batsman,” Pandit added.
Shreyas Iyer made KKR IPL champions after 10 years as before this KKR had won the title in 2012 and 2014 under the captaincy of Gautam Gambhir.
Gautam Gambhir’s presence in the dugout was a great motivation: Chandrakant Pandit
Talking of Gautam Gambhir, Chandrakant Pandit had only good words for the former KKR captain. The 62-year-old Pandit, who had won Ranji Trophy titles with Mumbai, Vidarbha, and Madhya Pradesh before joining KKR, characterised Gambhir’s presence in the dressing room as wonderful encouragement for everyone and stated that they made decisions collaboratively to the team’s advantage.
“His presence in the dugout was a great motivation for everyone. It was a great boost for us. He came in with a lot of cricketing experience. He’s been a part of the IPL for so many years. We took all the decisions collectively,” Pandit further added.
Gambhir, who was a successful mentor with KKR, is now leading the race to become the new head coach of the Indian men’s cricket team. The BCCI is looking for a new head coach to succeed Rahul Dravid, whose contract expires in June 2024.
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