Homecoming is the buzz for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2024. While they welcome back their two-time title-winning captain Gautam Gambhir in the role of a mentor, they also open their doors for Manish Pandey’s return. The middle-order batter turned out in KKR colors for four seasons between 2014 and 2017 one of which was under the leadership of Gautam Gambhir the player , before the mega auction where Sunrisers Hyderabad prized him away for a whopping INR 11 Crore.
Despite playing for three other franchises (SRH, DC and LSG), two of Pandey’s top three seasons with the bat came in KKR colors in 2014 and 2017. Incidentally, the last time KKR won a title was in one of the two seasons when Pandey scored in excess of 400 runs. He went on to top that exceptional run with a title-winning 94 off 50 balls in the final that nullified Wriddhiman Saha’s century for Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings), giving KKR their second IPL title under skipper Gautam Gambhir .
Reminiscing on that season, where KKR had to go on a seven-game winning run in the league before emerging victorious in the two knockout fixtures, Pandey talked up the attitude of the players that sealed the deal for them. After a brief stint with Lucknow Super Giants (LSG ) both Manish Pandey and Gautam Gambhir has rejoined forces with Kolkata Knight Riders for the 2024 season and is looking forward to recreate the same magic they had in 2014 season .
KKR batter Manish Pandey is ecstatic to play with mentor Gautam Gambhir in IPL 2024.
Fearlessness on the field and the right kind of attitude would be required to end a 10-year title drought for Kolkata Knight Riders in the upcoming season of Indian Premier League, felt comeback man Manish Pandey. The India batter played for KKR from 2013 to 2017, thus winning the IPL once with the side in 2014. Coming back to Kolkata after six long years, Pandey sounded excited but at the same time felt confident about bringing the glorious days back under the mentorship of Gautam Gambhir and head coach Chandrakant Pandit.
After having a pre-season training camp in Mumbai for the past couple of weeks, the KKR players and support staff had their first training session at Eden Gardens on Friday. While the local players have all come in, Phil Salt is the only overseas star to arrive. Captain Shreyas Iyer is yet to arrive too.
Manish Pandey, who has played 29 ODIs and 39 T20Is for India, spoke highly of Gautam Gambhir rejoining the side after a long time. In fact, KKR’s major success came under Gautam Gambhir between 2011 and 2017. Under his leadership, KKR won the title in 2012 and 2014, qualified for the playoffs five times, and reached the finals of the now-defunct Champions League T20 in 2014 all under the leadership of Gautam Gambhir.
Despite diminishing returns KKR acquired the services of Manish Pandey for his base price of 50 lakhs in the auction. In a conversation ahead of IPL 2024 , Pandey spoke about reuniting with Gautam Gambhir and was as quoted as saying by Cricbuzz :
“Gauti Bhai has done wonders for KKR. We’ve always had a leader in him when he was playing, and now coming back as a mentor is kind of the same feeling. I am really happy that he’s there and that he’s going to be taking a lot of important calls for the team and he has done really well here as well.”
“Happy to reunite with him, and the kind of josh [excitement] the boys are in with him and the way he speaks.. it felt like home again, felt like a lot of memories coming back. It’ll be great that with everybody coming in, it’ll be lovely to have the trophy here by the end of IPL,” he added.
Manish Pandey has a homely feeling on his return to KKR under Gautam Gambhir’s mentorship.
Manish Pandey expressed delight at returning to KKR setup after six years for the IPL 2024 season. The 34-year-old was an integral part of the franchise second IPL title under Gautam Gambhir in the year 2014 scoring a breathtaking 94 of 50 balls in the grand finale.
“Coming back after six years… 2017 was the last time we played. Coming back to KKR feels really good, feels like home. Spent four years here so KKR as a franchise has given me a lot in terms of my career, and in return what we have given to KKR is also our utmost effort and a trophy.
Obviously, it feels very good coming back home, and with Gauti bhai as mentor coming back is also very special because we have a great history before, we’ve won the IPL before. So it feels good,” said Pandey.