The mentor of Kolkata Knight Riders Dwayne Bravo has revealed that he texted Gautam Gambhir after coming into the role. Bravo also spoke about how he is different from Gambhir but both are successful on their own.
Dwayne Bravo was appointed the mentor of Kolkata Knight Riders last year after Gautam Gambhir had left the role following his appointment as India’s head coach. Bravo has also served as the bowling coach of Chennai Super Kings for the 2023 and 2024 seasons of IPL.
Also read: IPL 2025: ‘Shreyas Iyer didn’t get the credit…’ – Gautam Gambhir’s former teammate’s massive claim
Dwayne Bravo remembers texting Gautam Gambhir
While speaking in a press conference, Dwayne Bravo assured that the franchise would keep doing good things from the last season that helped them become the champions. He also revealed the team’s game plan at the auction.
“It’s going to be disrespectful of me not to try out some of the good things that he did last season, but also the core of the team is still there, and that was our responsibility to go back into the auction and try our best to get back as many players from the championship winning team,” Bravo said.
KKR tried to retain their core in the IPL 2025 mega auction and were successful in signing back quite a few players. However, they were unable to get back their captain Shreyas Iyer, who decided to go into the auction and fetched a massive amount of INR 26.75 crore from Punjab Kings.
They retained Rinku Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, and Ramandeep Singh ahead of the auction. All these players are key for them and are likely to feature in all their games given they are fit.
On comparison with Gautam Gambhir
Dwayne Bravo also shed light on his relationship with Gautam Gambhir and how he contacted him after becoming the mentor. The former West Indies all-rounder claimed that he wants to trust his coach and the captain for winning matches.
“I think GG (Gautam Gambhir) has his style, I have my style. We are both successful in out own ways. I messaged him a few times. I will be leaning a lot on these guys (captain and coach) because they had a successful formula, and it is important that we follow that,” he added.
Ajinkya Rahane is KKR’s captain this season after Shreyas Iyer was sold to Punjab Kings. Rahane is vastly experienced and has led India and his domestic team Mumbai as well. Chandrakant Pandit is the head coach of the team.
Apart from working in the IPL, Dwayne Bravo also holds the mentor post for the Knight Riders franchise in MLC, International League T20, and the Caribbean Premier League as well.
KKR’s opening match of IPL 2025
With Gautam Gambhir as their mentor, Kolkata Knight Riders won the IPL 2024 title. It was their third IPL title ever and the first one in a decade. Gambhir had a big role to play and some of his decisions proved to be game-changing ones.
KKR will begin their IPL 2025 campaign against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on March 22. The defending champions will be looking to continue with their superb form from last season.
