Indian IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders have appointed former India and Mumbai all-rounder Abhishek Nayar as the coach of their academy. The Kolkata-based franchise have launched their own cricket academy named ‘KKR Academy’ which will provide coaching and training facilities to the players of the franchise during the IPL off-season. Nayar has been tasked with the responsibility of heading the academy.
KKR CEO and MD was delighted with the appointment, saying in a statement, “Abhishek’s credentials as a cricketer and his deep desire and passion to help cricketers become better is very well known. We felt that he’s ideally suited to lead this initiative.”
Nayar was also elated, saying in a statement on the KKR website, “Post the IPL season, I had a meeting with Venky Sir to discuss the ways forward, and he was very keen on starting something where we can help the cricketers throughout the year. A lot of times what happens is that we come into the IPL and pick players based on their talent. Whether or not they do well depends on their own preparations, so we thought as to what we can do to affect that – to find a change where we can add a little more value to a cricketer’s career and not just come and practice, do well in the IPL, and go away.”
Nayar further added, “The idea was to have a journey with them wherein you’re taking care of them, understanding them, their problems, and the small difficulties they face through a season, not only in the IPL, but in the Ranji trophy or in (domestic) T20s, basically everything that comprises the overall growth of a cricketer.”
