KKR Star Reveals Private WhatsApp Chat With Gautam Gambhir. IPL-Winning Mentor Wrote: "This Means..."

After two titles as KKR captain in 2012 and 2014, this is Gambhir's first as a mentor of the franchise.

Nitish Rana paid tribute to Gautam Gambhir on Instagram after Kolkata Knight Riders broke a ten-year drought to win their third IPL title in 2024. Gambhir returned to the KKR dugout ahead of the season, taking on the role of a mentor, after two years with the Lucknow Super Giants. His influence has clearly been enormous, with Rana hailing him. After two titles as KKR captain in 2012 and 2014, this is Gambhir's first as a mentor of the franchise.

"In this era of Mamba Mentality, we're soon all going to embrace the GG Mentality too," captioned Rana on Instagram.

Rana also shared a screenshot of a conversation with Gambhir dating back to November 22, 2023, where Gambhir had spoken about "creating something special" in the season to come.

Rana has not been the only one to credit KKR's success to Gambhir. Earlier in the season, Sunil Narine had also spoken about how Gambhir had been instrumental in convincing him to open the batting again.