KKR owner offers Gautam Gambhir blank cheque to manage team for 10 years – Reports

Former captain Gautam Gambhir has mentored KKR to the IPL 2024 final.

Gautam Gambhir has reportedly been offered a blank cheque by the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) owner Shah Rukh Khan to stay with the franchise for the next 10 years after the team made it into the final of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. In the final, KKR will clash with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Chennai on Sunday.

This report comes amid the reports of the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) keenness for Gambhir to become the head coach of the Indian men’s team. May 27 is the deadline for applying, and reports have stated that BCCI has been turned down by a host of foreign options like Ricky Ponting, Justin Langer, Kumar Sangakkara, and others, citing the length of the contract.

This has made Gautam Gambhir the first-choice option for the BCCI to bag the high-profile job of being the next head coach of the Indian men’s team.

Rahul Dravid’s tenure will conclude at the end of the 2024 T20 World Cup next month. Dravid does not intend to reapply for the position, placing the BCCI in a position where they have to get a new coach.

Gambhir is the most likely candidate for the head coach job. Furthermore, he is the only likely Indian contender whose name is being circulated. Notably, BCCI secretary Jay Shah has recently hinted that the board would prefer an Indian name as head coach to a foreign one.

Shah Rukh Khan hands Gautam Gambhir a blank cheque to stay with KKR for 10 years – Reports

Gambhir also has an impressive track record as a team mentor in the IPL. In 2022, he was given the mentor’s post at Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), who made the playoffs and finished third in the league stage in consecutive seasons.

Before the start of the IPL 2024 season, Gambhir was signed by KKR for the same role, and the two-time winners finished at the top of the points table in the league stage and became the tournament’s first finalists by defeating SRH in Qualifier 1.

According to a report in Dainik Jagran on Saturday, the BCCI contacted Gambhir about applying for the head coach position and the 2011 ODI World Cup winner expressed a strong interest. On Sunday, he will most likely see several BCCI top heads in Chennai on the sidelines of the IPL 2024 final.

On the other hand, the report also mentioned that though Gambhir is eager for a new challenge as India’s head coach, he must persuade KKR co-owner Shah Rukh Khan to let him depart after returning to the franchise as mentor before the IPL 2024 season.

According to the report, the Bollywood celebrity informed Gambhir that he would like him to manage the team for the next ten years and handed him a blank cheque, stating that he would pay whatever amount he demanded.

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