Lucknow: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have performed well in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. They finished first in the points table for the first time in the history of the tournament. Kolkata has made star player Sunil Narine open this season and his move has worked very well. Narine has scored more than 400 runs this season and has given a great start to his team. The biggest reason behind this success of KKR is considered to be former Indian cricketer and Kolkata mentor Gautam Gambhir. However, former Indian batsman Mohammad Kaif thinks differently.

Read also – After CSK's exit from IPL 2024, MS Dhoni was seen having fun in Ranchi, watch video.

Let us tell you that for the last few seasons, KKR team was not able to qualify even for the playoffs. In such a situation, considering the poor performance, the team management of Kolkata added Gambhir as a mentor. The first change he made after Gautam's joining was to make Narine open. However, Kaif believes that it is not right to give full credit for the team's success to Gambhir. During a conversation on Star Sports, the former Indian cricketer has given a big statement.

He said, “We give credit to Gautam Gambhir for Kolkata's success and do not talk much about captain Shreyas Iyer. However, he has captained well on the field and taken good decisions. Kolkata's bowling this season has been very good and Iyer has used his bowlers properly.

In the league stage, Kolkata played a total of 14 matches and during this they won 9 matches, while they had to face defeat in 3. So their two matches were washed out in the rain. With this, he finished his campaign at first place in the points table with 20 points in 14 matches and made his place in the playoffs.

Kaif says that Iyer also captained well this season and he made changes in the bowlers at the right time. Let us tell you that Shreyas has not got a chance to bat much this year but whenever he has come, he has played some important innings for the team. The right-handed batsman has played a total of 12 matches so far this season, in which he has scored 287 runs at an average of 31.89 and strike rate of 135.38. During this period, one half-century has come from his bat.

Read also – 'IPL is ahead of international cricket', Gautam Gambhir gave a shocking statement

Related News