While the Indian head coach Gambhir was one of the main deciders in leaving Rohit out of the playing XI, he set this incident during his own playing days. In the 2018edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Gambhir came to Delhi Capitals (Delhi Daredevils at that time) and got named the franchise’s captain.

However, he struggled to make runs, as he had scored 85 runs in six innings and could not bring out expected results for the team. During his tenure, Delhi Capitals won just one of their six matches.

Between the team’s poor results and him struggling himself, Gambhir gave the captaincy to Shreyas Iyer and refused to play any more matches that season. That season also was the last time he played as an IPL player.

“I didn’t make any call to be honest. It wasn’t my decision to drop him. He himself decided to sit out, which was really courageous decision with him being the captain in the previous matches,” Shreyas Iyer said in the media interaction when Gambhir decided to sit out.

“The respect for him has gone really high. It’s really [good to] see when a captain if he’s not playing well, he backs out. Colin [Munro] came in and gave us the desired start,” he added.

According to media reports in 2018, Gambhir had even decided to let go of his salary of Rs. 2.8 crore from Delhi Capitals.

The post That time when Gautam Gambhir dropped HIMSELF for low performance and Declined taking salary appeared first on Cricket Country.

Gambhir is under pressure to deliver good outcomes, especially when under his leadership, India lost an ODI series to Sri Lanka for the first time since 1997, followed by a 3-0 clean sweep by New Zealand in a Test series on Indian grounds. The Indian team’s performance in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 has also been below par.

The Indian team is set to go through a few changes for the last Test against Australia, set to begin January 3 at Sydney Cricket Ground. Rohit Sharma has been dropped from this Test, whereas Akash Deep has been put to rest due to discomfort in his back.

Pakistan legend Basit Ali lashed out at Gautam Gambhir after India’s dismal performances in the BGT. Gambhir had an important role when Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 title. Basit Ali stated that there is not much coaching to do in T20s, but even the coach is put to test in a Test match.

“Gautam Gambhir ko tactics nahi aati, coaching ki (Gambhir doesn’t know coaching tactics). No doubt he guided Kolkata Knight Riders to the IPL title (in 2024), but T20s don’t need much coaching. In Test matches, even the coach is tested — what is the coach understanding and planning while sitting on the sidelines?” Basit said on his YouTube channel.

After the victory in Melbourne, Australia will enter the 5th Test knowing that they might secure their place in the World Test Championship (WTC) finals. India, on the other hand, needs to do something out of the box and defeat Australia in the final match if they wish to have some positive hopes for making it to the WTC final.

The post ‘Doesn’t know Tactics…’: Ex-Pakistan cricketer takes a Dig at Gautam Gambhir after loss in Melbourne Test appeared first on Cricket Country.

A few months before the next IPL edition, Rinku has been named the captain of Uttar Pradesh for the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25. However, Rinku is not thinking very far ahead of the time, and just wants to focus on the domestic competition.

“I am not overthinking about the captaincy of KKR in the new IPL season,” he told ESPNCricinfo.

“I am focused on my plans for Uttar Pradesh, as I want my team to regain the trophy we had won for the first time in 2015-16,” he added.

Rinku recently captained Meerut Mavericks and led them to the Uttar Pradesh T20 (UPT20) League title. He has bowled one over reach in ODIs, t20Is, and has taken three wickets.

The post ‘Focused on plans for…’: Rinku Singh makes a BIG statement on Captaining Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2025 appeared first on Cricket Country.

.In am exciting match, Mumbai beat Madhya Pradesh by 5 wickets at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. To add to the won, the team even had 13 balls to spare. the knock of 80 runs in 41 balls by Rajat Patidar caused no good, as Ajinkya Rahane (37 off 30), Suryakumar Yadav (48 off 35), and Suryansh Shedge (36 off 15) made way for the team towards their second title.

Shreyas Iyer scripts history
Shreyas Iyer has secured his name in books of history as he has become the first captain in history who has won both the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT). trophies. Shreyas even had a remarkable coincidence, as he won both these titles in the same year.

Shreyas came out as the fourth-highest run-scorer in the tournament, as he scored 345 runs at an average of 49.28, along with scoring a century.

The post Shreyas Iyer creates history: First player to win THESE two tournaments as Captain appeared first on Cricket Country.

After the auction, Nitish’s wife Saachi Marwah, went to social media and made a comment towards KKR as they did not retain him before the auction.

She posted a picture along with the message –  “Loyalty is very expensive, not everyone can afford it“. This post has gone viral on social media, and had caused a lot of banter on social media.

Former West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, the current mentor of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), came in defense of the team going all out for Venkatesh Iyer to keep the core of the franchise intact.

Even though he is taken as the potential captaincy candidate for KKR, the taking of Venkatesh has given rise to a lot of for why he did not get retained if leadership was the team’s plan for him.

“Getting Venky (Venkatesh Iyer) was one of the main priorities for us, as you could see, we went all out for him,” said Bravo.

“It’s good that we have 90 per cent of the players from the championship-winning team. That in itself is a positive sign. It’s important to keep your core because when you have to build from scratch, it becomes complicated to make combinations and all,” he added

“We started planning while I was in Trinidad. We had come with a proper plan, the players we wanted to target,” he concluded.

The post Ex-Kolkata Knight Riders star’s wife makes “Loyalty” remarks after IPL 2025 auctions appeared first on Cricket Country.

In an interview, Lalit Modi revealed how KKR was not the first choice as an IPL team for Shah Rukh Khan, since he wanted to have a stake in Mumbai Indians. Before the IPL began in 2008, Shah Rukh Khan had bought KKR with his close friend Juhi Chawla for reportedly INR 570 crore.

When speaking to Raj Shamani on his podcast, Lalit Modi called Shah Rukh Khan to be the “pillar” of IPL, along with giving him the credit for making cricket accessible to women and children all over the world.

“Bollywood and cricket sell in this country. I have always been a part of the glamor. Shah Rukh Khan went to school with me; we are school friends. When I approached him for cricket, I didn’t know much about it myself, but I told him, ‘I just want you to be a part of it.’ He was the number one pillar for the IPL,” Lalit Modi said.

“Shah Rukh Khan bid for a team, even though he didn’t know anything about cricket,” he added

During the podcast, Lalit Modi also revealed that Shah Rukh Khan had his eyes set on Mumbai Indians, but since Mukesh Ambani already did the honours, the Bollywood actor went with KKR.

“His first choice was Mumbai, but Mukesh Ambani took that. Kolkata was his eventual pick. But Shah Rukh’s real contribution was in making cricket entertaining. He brought women and children into the stadiums, which was critical for IPL’s success. That’s why we had music, cheerleaders, and a festival-like atmosphere—he turned it into an event for everyone,” said Lalit Modi.

The post IPL founder reveals Kolkata Knight Riders was not the first choice of Shah Rukh Khan as IPL team appeared first on Cricket Country.

Iyer has proved his worth as an IPL captain, and he could be in high demand for the mega-auctions. However, that was not the case in the mock auctions that were organised by KKR.

This mock auction was organised on their YouTube channel, where Shreyas was signed again for Rs. 4.4 crore.

Iyer has proven his high value in IPL, and will be expected to reach even up to the 15-crore mark in mega-auctions. Teams like Punjab Kings, Delhi Capitals and even Royal Challengers Bengaluru might spend heavily on him.

The post Kolkata Knight Riders sign Shreyas Iyer again for 4.4 Crore in IPL Mock Auctions appeared first on Cricket Country.

Rinku Singh for 13 crore, Varun Chakravarthy for 12 crore, Sunil Narine for 12 crore, Andre Russell for 12 crore, Harshit Rana for 4 crore, and Ramandeep Singh for 4 crore are the six players that have been retained by the franchise.

Since they spent 13 crore for the left-handed batter, Rinku came out to be the top player retained by KKR before the mega auctions set to be held later this year.

With BCCI exploring the possibility of holding the auctions overseas, the auctions are to be held in November or December.

Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates are coming out as the possible venues for the auctions. Muscat and Doha are also being taken into consideration.

The post KKR’s official retention list: Rinku chosen as top pick, Iyer surprisingly released appeared first on Cricket Country.

Speaking in an interview, Harbhajan showered praise on KKR and said that they had dominated the previous season. He also went on to name some players who should be retained for the upcoming T20 tournament.

“KKR dominated the entire season, so it will be difficult for them to leave or retain anyone. But it’s a matter of retention, so you only have limited numbers that you can retain,” said Harbhajan.

“If I want to see or if I have to choose my 6 players, which 6 players will be there for KKR? I think Shreyas Iyer will be there, Phil Salt will be there, Narine will be there, Andre Russell will be there, Rinku Singh will be there. I will definitely want to see Rinku Singh. He should be the 5th player to be retained. And if we talk about one more player, who is the last player to be retained? It could be Ramandeep Singh. He is an uncapped player. I think he should be retained. He played very well last year and I have seen his performance in domestic cricket this year as well. So I think this 6th player, Knight Rider, will be retained,” he added.

The post Ex-MI skipper shares his views on KKR’s retentions before IPL 2025 mega auctions appeared first on Cricket Country.

The stocks of Rana gone up since his season in IPL 2024 in Kolkata Knight Riders to win under leadership of Gautam Gambhir. He picked 19 wickets in 13 matches during the tournament, which is the highest among the uncapped bowlers and fifth-highest overall.

Before he got named for the T20I series against Bangladesh at home, Rana was taken to the Indian white-ball setup for the ODI tour of Sri Lanka. He did not, however, not receive an India cap. According to a report in PTI, Rana then got added to the Test squad for the upcoming Australia series next month. Though, this has resulted in some eyebrows being raised since the youngster has played just 9 first-class matches till now.

It seems that, Gambhir however, is locked in on giving this big of an opportunity to Rana before summer in Australia.

The post For heroic outing in Ranji Trophy, Indian squad adds THIS pacer for 3rd Test against New Zealand appeared first on Cricket Country.