The Indian Premier League (IPL) is the toughest T20 league in the world. The rich cash league over the years has given rise to many new young cricketers. Especially it has developed Indian Cricket as well. The likes of Virat Kohli to Rinku Singh these cricketers came into the light after featuring in the T20 franchise league. The competition will be entering its 17th edition next year. Some of the franchises have won the tournament and some have not.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) is the third-best IPL team as per the trophies after Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. The Knights have won the tournament three times. In the previous edition, they won their third title under the captaincy of Shreyas Iyer. However, all the credit goes to Gautam Gambhir who as a mentor yet again was successful with the team after winning the trophy twice as captain with them.
Gambhir changed the mentality of the team after being appointed as the mentor. The whole team was charged up and played an aggressive brand of cricket under his mentorship. However, the Delhi-born cricketer left the side as he had to be appointed as the head coach of the Indian national Men’s cricket team. The management is looking for a like-for-like replacement for the forthcoming season.
Ricky Ponting will transform KKR into a giant
KKR has shortlisted former Australian captain Ricky Ponting to join the side as a new mentor. Ponting was part of the team in the inaugural season of the competition. After that, he left the side. The Aussie legend was the coach of Delhi Capitals (DC). However, failure to lead the franchise to a single silverware was the cause of his dismissal from the side. He would like to join his former franchise and bring more glory to the side.
Under Ponting, Delhi played two playoffs and one final losing to Mumbai Indians. However, KKR also has their former all-rounder Jacques Kallis as an option. He was the batting coach of the side and also the head coach for a year. Nothing has been confirmed yet with the mentor role the management will have a talk with the head coach Chandrakant Pandit as well.
