Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batter Nitish Rana posted screenshot of the text message that Gautam Gambhir sent to him after being appointed as the mentor of the franchise for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.
Rana took to his Instagram handle and waxed lyrical about Gambhir by captioning the photo: “In this era of Mamba Mentality, we’re soon all going to embrace the GG Mentality too. #manifestation #ggmentality”
In the text message screenshot, Gambhir talked about the satisfaction of standing on the podium after winning trophies.
“Thanks Nitish for this message. This means a lot. Let’s create something special. There is no better feeling in sport to stand on a podium and win a trophy. Let’s experience that,” Gambhir’s text read.
Rana had mentioned the text message on Sunday (May 26) after KKR lifted their third IPL trophy, defeating SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in what was a one-sided contest.
“I want to share one short story that when GG bhaiya (Gambhir) was named the mentor, I sent him a long message as I was really happy,” Rana told the broadcasters.
“But he replied saying, ‘Thank you but I would be happy if we stand at the podium with the trophy in our hands’. Today is that day and I will never forget that message,” he added.
Rana was the KKR captain last year after Shreyas Iyer was forced to skip the tournament due to a serious back injury. However, under his tenure, KKR finished the season seventh on the points table.
After Gambhir joined forces with coach Chandrakant Pandit, KKR had a turnaround in fortunes and the team dominated the tournament from the beginning, eventually crushing the favourites, SRH, in the final.
Gambhir’s future uncertain
While Gambhir played a pivotal role in KKR winning the trophy after a decade-long wait, it looks highly unlikely that he will stay with the franchise.
Reports have emerged that Gambhir had all but signed the contract to become India men’s senior team head coach. If Gambhir takes the job, he will be unable to work with KKR as the India job offer stipulated him to be on the road for at least 10 months in a year.
(With inputs from agencies)