Kolkata Knight Riders' upcoming assignment is against Gujarat Titans on Monday at the Eden Gardens. This match will also mark the return of Abhishek Nayar as KKR's assistant coach. Nayar, who was a part of KKR's coaching setup in the previous edition, had left the job after he joined Team India as the assistant coach. He was chosen by head coach Gautam Gambhir, along with Ryan Ten Doeschate as his assistants. However, the BCCI took a strict action after India's debacle in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against Australia and sacked Nayar from his duties.
Shortly after his sacking, Nayar returned to KKR as the assistant coach and in a recent video, was seen interacting with the players.
In a video posted by KKR on X (formerly Twitter), Nayar was seen entering the field with skipper Ajinkya Rahane, when the cameraperson welcomed him back. "Thank you. Appreciate it. Good to be back," replied Nayar.
Later, the 41-year-old also interacted with head coach Chandrakant Pandit and batter Rinku Singh.
BCCI had sacked support staff members Nayar, fielding coach T Dilip, and the conditioning coach Soham Desai following a performance review in the wake of India's dismal run in Test cricket.
India suffered an unprecedented 0-3 whitewash at home against New Zealand, followed by a 1-3 series defeat -- first in a decade -- in Australia during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Despite earning praise for his work with players like KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, and Shreyas Iyer, his future became uncertain after the BCCI brought in Sitanshu Kotak as batting coach for the England white-ball series earlier this year. The BCCI has not issued any official communication regrading Nayar's termination.
Talking about KKR, the defending champions will hope that their strife-ridden batting unit will tighten its act against in-form table-toppers Gujarat Titans.
The Knight Riders suffered an inexplicable meltdown in their previous match, getting bowled out for 95 while chasing 112 against Punjab Kings in Mullanpur, and that collapse was a just reflection of the overall rot that has set among their batters.
(With PTI Inputs)