The bond of mutual respect and love between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) co-owner Shah Rukh Khan and team mentor Gautam Gambhir could become a headache for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Secretary Jay Shah.
In fact, BCCI secretary Jay Shah and the board are reportedly keen on appointing Gambhir as the new head coach of the Indian cricket team after Rahul Dravid’s tenure ends with the conclusion of the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in the USA and the Caribbean.
However, the deadline to apply for India’s head coach job ended on Monday, May 27 and there is no confirmation yet whether the KKR mentor has applied for the job but speculation is that the former World Cup winner of India is a strong candidate to replace him. the current coach, Dravid.
Can Gautam Gambhir choose between SRK’s KKR and Team India?
Notably, KKR ended their ten-year wait for an IPL title with a dominant 8-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the final of IPL 2024 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on May 26. It was KKR’s third IPL title and first since 2014, leading to an emotional celebration involving the likes of Andres Russell, Sunil Narine and co-owner Shah Rukh Khan.
Even the Bollywood superstar took a victory lap with his family after KKR’s victory and shared candid moments with Gambhir, who had previously led KKR to two IPL titles in 2012 and 2014 as captain and now won one more as a mentor . However, one particularly touching moment that caught the audience’s attention was when SRK gave Gambhir a kiss on the forehead.
Meanwhile, Gambhir and Shah Rukh Khan have a long-standing association and their close bond is well known to all. Gambhir’s future decisions, including the role of India’s head coach, are likely to be influenced by his talks with the KKR co-owner.
BCCI faces conundrum as Shah Rukh Khan wants to keep Gambhir in KKR
In a recent video shared by KKR on Instagram, Shah Rukh expressed his desire to maintain the same team setup for future seasons in the IPL. While it may be a challenge to retain all the players, retaining the support staff, including Gambhir, is certainly possible, meaning there is very little chance of the mentor taking on the high-profile job.
He cannot work together with BCCI and KKR due to conflict of interest. It is highly unlikely that the Bollywood icon will let Gambhir go as he brought him back to KKR after a lot of effort, and now his return has already brought the IPL trophy to the team. Therefore, SRK will certainly have a say in Gambhir’s decision on Team India’s coaching job prospects.
Shah Rukh Khan said in the video, “Wherever we go from now on, I wish you all the best. I speak on behalf of Juhi, Jay, Jahnvi and Suhana. I wish we had the same team for the rest of our lives and you kept listening to my speeches and playing like that. I only have one request, which is my special thanks to GG. “I haven’t thanked him especially.”
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