Abhishek Nayar appointed as head coach of KKR’s cricket academy

A young Kolkata Knight Riders team went up against the best in the world in this year’s IPL under the leadership of Indian wicket-keeper - Dinesh Karthik. With guidance from the likes of Simon Katich and Jacque Kallis, KKR managed to finish third behind Champions - Chennai Super Kings and runners-up, Sunrisers Hyderabad. In a bid to connect with the youngsters around the country, the KKR management recently announced the launch of a first-of-its-kind ‘'KKR Academy' on Wednesday. They also revealed that former India batsman Abhishek Nayar will be the head coach a the academy for the coming months.

Nayar, who also served as a personal mentor to KKR skipper - Dinesh Karthik in the past, operated as a consultant to the first team during IPL 2018. The Mumbai-born coach will be assisted in his role by KKR video analyst AR Srikkanth and one of Mumbai Indians’ bowling coaches, Omkar Salvi. 

"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.

"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," Nayar told KKR’s official website.

As part of the first two-week in Bengaluru, KKR youngster’s like Rinku Singh, Apoorv Wankhede, Nitesh Rana, and Shubman Gill will make their way to the south for some training sessions. Five more cricketers will join the camp in the training sessions soon which will include physical conditioning work apart from skill training on a variety of pitches based on Indian conditions.

"The idea of KKR Academy has been part of our vision with a view to helping our cricketers improve their skills and fitness as well as grooming talent and providing them a perfect platform to showcase their skills. This is another step in the professionalisation of the Knight Riders franchise," said KKR's CEO Venky Mysore.