File photo of Kolkata Knight Riders in action© X (formerly Twitter)
Former Indian cricket team batter Gautam Gambhir was the most successful captain in the history of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League. During his tenure as skipper from 2011 to 2017, KKR won the IPL title twice in 2012 and 2014 with a number of big talents finding a chance to make it big as a part of the team. However, one player who went to become a huge name after leaving KKR was Suryakumar Yadav. He was part of the KKR team from 2014 to 2017 but it was only when he joined Mumbai Indians that he truly found his form. He is currently the top-ranked T20I batter in the world with brilliant performances for both MI and India.
Gambhir opened up about his ‘regret’ of not properly using SKY during their time in KKR and said that he was as good a No, 7 batter as he is in No. 3.
“A leader’s role is to identify the best potential and show it to the world. If there is one regret I have in my seven years of captaincy is that me and as a team never managed to use Suryakumar Yadav to the best of his potential. And the reason was down to combinations. You can only play one player at No. 3. And as a leader, you have to think about the other 10 players in the XI as well. He would have been way more effective at No. 3, but was equally good at No. 7,” Gambhir told Sportskeeda.
“He was also a team man. Anyone can be a good player, but being a team man is a difficult task. Whether you play him at No. 6 or 7 or bench him, he was always smiling and always ready to perform for the team. That is why we appointed him as the vice-captain,” he added.
