IPL 2022 | Gautam Gambhir will help us create a blueprint in the long term, says Lucknow franchise owner Sanjiv Goenka

IPL 2022 will be an exciting season with the addition of two new teams, and Lucknow and Ahmedabad will begin their journey in the cash-rich league from the 15th edition of the tournament.  Both the franchisees will be looking forward to building their coaching staff and creating a strong squad ahead of the IPL 2022. The Lucknow franchise has already hired Andy Flower as the head coach of the team, and in a recent development, they roped in Gautam Gambhir as their mentor. 

Reflecting on their decision, Lucknow franchise owner Sanjiv Goenka stated that Gambhir will play a motivational role in the team. Goenka further added that the former Indian cricketer will help the franchise to create a blueprint in the long run.

"Gautam will primarily have a motivational role to play. He will also help to create a blueprint for the franchise in the long term. We wanted to have people with a proven track record of success. Gautam has also successfully groomed a generation of youngsters for KKR and that went in his favour,” Goenka said.

Gautam Gambhir has captained Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the past and led them to the title victories in the 2012 and 2014 seasons. Goenka reckoned that Gambhir will gear the dressing room towards a culture of performance. 

"Gautam has an image of being a totally non-partisan leader with a focus on results. Look at what he did for KKR. Fundamentally we would like the dressing room to be geared towards a culture of performance.”

The RPSG group were previously part of the IPL in the 2016 and 2017 seasons of the tournament. Goenka said that the Lucknow franchise is oriented towards the long term in the cash-rich league.

"That was just a short two-year thing. We were impatient and left many things unfinished. This (Lucknow) is oriented towards the long term as not many franchises have come in and succeeded in the first year itself,” Goenka said.

After his appointment, Gambhir tweeted that the fire to win still burns inside of him.