Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) mentor Gautam Gambhir defended allegations of 'militant-style' coaching on franchise’s head coach Chandrakant Pandit. Former KKR all-rounder David Wiese had said that a few foreign players had a problem with Pandit's approach during the 2023 edition of Indian Premier League (IPL).
“He (Pandit) is known in India as a very militant type of coach. He is very strict, very disciplinarian that type of stuff," Wiese had revealed on the ‘Hitman for Hire: A year in the life of a franchise cricketer’ podcast.
“Sometimes in franchise cricket, when you have overseas guys, who’ve played all over the world, they don’t need anyone coming and telling them how they need to behave, what they need to wear and what they need to do the whole time. So, that was tough.”
Gambhir comes to Pandit’s rescue
Gambhir falsified Namibian all-rounder’s claims and said that Pandit has been exceptional in first-class cricket. Also, his experience has been nothing but good.
"I have not heard about any criticism. It's been early days, and my working relationship with him has been really very good. Hopefully, it will continue that way. Whatever has been said, I have no clue about it. I think he has been pretty successful in first-class cricket, and that is the reason why he has got this opportunity. So far, it has been really good working with him," said Gambhir, as quoted by Times Now.
Russell supported KKR coach too
Last month, KKR's veteran all-rounder Andre Russell came in support of Pandit as well.
“We’ve been working with him from last year. I think when you're working with a coach for the first time, you have to make sure that you adjust to their philosophy. There have to be rules. We are professionals. So, we don't complain,” said the Caribbean cricketer.
“I try to do the best for this franchise. He's been doing an amazing job, and we've gotten coming back as well,” he added.
Under Shreyas Iyer’s leadership, KKR won three out of their four matches in the season before going up against KL Rahul’s Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).
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