Gautam Gambhir’s Pivotal Role in Building Lucknow Super Giants’ Foundation (IPL)
Gautam Gambhir’s influence extends far beyond the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise, as he has also played a vital role in shaping the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) team from the ground up. Sanjiv Goenka, the owner of LSG, revealed that the former India opener was instrumental in building the team’s foundation, even without the support of analysts or a research team.
“Gautam has played a significant role in building the side’s foundation. If you consider our first auction successful, it is only because of Gautam. We got the franchise barely two weeks before the auctions. We did not have an analyst or a research team. It was all Gautam Gambhir’s team. He did everything and put together a very balanced team.”
Despite the challenges of being a new franchise, LSG managed to reach the playoffs in their first two IPL seasons with Gambhir as their mentor. However, when Gambhir moved to Kolkata Knight Runners ahead of IPL 2024, the Lucknow-based franchise faced setbacks, finishing seventh on the points table, and the dynamic between captain KL Rahul and owner Goenka became a subject of intense discussion.
Zaheer Khan Appointed as New Mentor
Keen to get their campaign back on track, LSG have now appointed Zaheer Khan as their new mentor. Zaheer expressed confidence in the franchise’s progress, stating:
“LSG are a relatively young franchise in IPL, but it has not been looked upon like that, the building blocks are pretty much in place. They have made a lot of progress. The consistency with reaching playoffs, which is so tough in this fiercely-contested competition, is something that gives me a lot of confidence when I’m looking at coming and contributing to the franchise’s success.”
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