Ex India Coach Breaks Silence On KKR Return After Being Sacked By BCCI

Lauded by KL Rahul for playing a big role in his development as a white-ball batter, yet Abhishek Nayar was sacked by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Suprisingly, Nayar returned to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise he was playing for before joining Gautam Gambhir's backroom staff in the Indian team as assistant coach. However, even before Nayar's sacking from the Indian team was made official, the news of Nayar re-joining KKR became public.

Speaking on the return to IPL, Nayar said that the franchise is actually like a 'family' to him. Hence, he didn't waste any time in completing the U-turn.

"KKR is family to me. Everyone throws his weight way too much around the fact that it's family, but for me, I think it's family because the speed at which I came back [to the team] was a testament to the fact that that's where I belong in a lot of ways," he said.

"I've always looked at anything as opportunities, and this is an opportunity, which I'm very, very excited for in that regard," Nayar told PTI.

Nayar also landed the role of a mentor with the Women's Premier League franchise, UP Warriorz. The former India batter is excited about the new task at hand what the future that women's cricket holds in the country.

"The opportunity is to create a culture where everyone understands that this franchise plays to win trophies, and try and bring that mentality into our ecosystem," he said.

"WPL will impact not only Indian cricket, but also Indian domestic cricket. It is very different from the first year in a WPL trial, where I felt many people were more touch players. Now you can see so much more power entering the game. You can see the girls diving around, throws are flat, throws are faster. There's enormous growth and that's not going to stop," he added.

Topics mentioned in this article

Abhishek Nayar India Cricket Team Kolkata Knight Riders UP Warriorz Cricket