When Pep Guardiola won his first Premier League title in 2017-18, his Manchester City team did not merely triumph. They trounced their competition, claiming a record 100 points, 19 clear of second-place Manchester United. Six years later, Gautam Gambhir mentored the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to a similarly dominating campaign in the IPL, with the Knights securing their highest point tally (20) in a 14-game league season, before outperforming the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the most one-sided final in IPL history. Just like Guardiola at City, Gambhir has helped shape KKR from a franchise brimming with talent into a lean, mean, winning machine. Such has been the rigour and consistency from Knights this season that victory has felt not just deserved, but inevitable.
“We’re delighted with this season, but next season, we want to go again and win more,” said Guardiola, after leading City to their fourth consecutive English top flight championship a few weeks ago, an unprecedented feat in itself. “People don’t come to see me smile, they come to see me win,” said Gambhir on his former Indian teammate Ravichandran Ashwin’s YouTube show, days before a packed M.A. Chidambaram stadium saw Gambhir win once more. But Guardiola and Gambhir are united by much more than winning. Apart from being serial champions, what sets the two apart, even from their excellent peers, is clarity they bring alongside their competence.
Picking roles and backing players
When Guardiola took over at Man City in the summer of 2016, he brought a blueprint with him. City were not only going to play the ball out of the back (in classic Guardiola fashion) but also make more effective use of midfielders between the channels, not least through the tactic of inverted wingers (right-footed wingers playing on the left and vice versa). Guardiola’s master plan unlocked the full potential of the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling, while transforming the position and style of young prospects like John Stones.
On returning to KKR seven years after he left the franchise as skipper, Gambhir, now mentor, knew exactly what he wanted to do from day one. Gone was the smother-with-spin strategy that brought two IPL titles as captain in 2012 and 2014. With the Eden Gardens track no longer as slow and low, Gambhir pivoted to attacking upfront with both bat and ball.
Much like Guardiola did for Sergio Aguero by demanding the Argentine striker press like a man possessed, Gambhir took a veteran in Sunil Narine and gave him a new challenge — go all guns blazing in the powerplay, not as a pinch-hitter of seasons past but as a full-fledged destructive opener. Narine finished the season as KKR’s top scorer, with his 488 runs coming at a strike rate of 180.74. Only Travis Head scored more than Narine at a faster clip in this year’s competition. In the bowling department, KKR’s choice to break the bank for Mitchell Starc was debated endlessly. But Gambhir, who had a rare, broad smile on his face once the services of the Aussie speedster were secured at the auction, backed his ace fast bowler to the hilt. Cue Guardiola’s relentless support for Jack Grealish in 2022-23, when the mercurial Englishman became City’s most expensive player. Overcoming a shaky regular season, Starc turned on the style in the playoffs. His peach of a ball to dismiss Abhishek Sharma in the first over of the final would have made former KKR bowling coach Wasim Akram proud.
Both Guardiola and Gambhir are invaluable assets in the dressing room for their ability to man-manage big stars and big egos. With Gambhir back in the fold, it is little wonder that Andre Russell, ala Vincent Kompany under Guardiola, stepped up to the plate with his best all-round IPL showing since 2019. But Guardiola and Gambhir are also more adept than most at bringing out the best in emerging players, converting prodigies into match winners. Take the case of Ramandeep Singh, whom Gambhir fashioned into a finisher (a powerful parallel lies in Guardiola changing Nathan Ake into a defensive midfielder). Even though Ramandeep faced only 62 balls this IPL, he operated at a strike rate of 201.61, the highest of any Knight in 2024.
Parallel personalities: Mr Football and Mr Cricket
Mr Football and Mr Cricket are men whose convictions take precedence over their charisma Getty Images/TT Archives
An intense, almost maniacal process underpins the achievements of Guardiola and Gambhir, or Mr Football and Mr Cricket. These are the sort of men to analyse every muscle movement of the opposition, but also to gamble with their guts on the biggest stage. Unlike Carlo Ancelotti and Stephen Fleming, they are not ice men — minimalism of expression is not their forte. Study their body language throughout matches and there is a fascinating dichotomy that appears — a tension between monastic composure and burning passion. At times, seen in isolation, Guardiola and Gambhir could be mistaken for sitting at an opera instead of a high-octane sports dugout. At others, their gaze contains more aggression than any vocabulary can conjure. The combination of the cerebral and visceral in Guardiola and Gambhir conditions them as men whose convictions take precedence over their charisma.
Both Guardiola and Gambhir were criminally underrated in their playing days, with the media frenzy reserved for their more flamboyant teammates. But take Guardiola out of the Barcelona midfield and Gambhir out of the Indian top order, and neither team enjoys the superlative success they did with two selfless men anchoring their respective ambitions. Since the end of their playing days, Guardiola and Gambhir have developed a reputation for being outspoken, robust in articulating their politics and for wearing their patriotic hearts on their sleeve. But this outspokenness does not stem from a desire to be a provocateur. Rather, it is rooted in the principle of being unapologetically yourself, of commanding, not demanding, attention.
The art of building a dynasty
Gambhir has the full backing of the KKR ownership and management to continue for a long time in his role as mentor TT Archives
When Guardiola came to the Premier League, the overwhelming consensus was that English football would change him, force him to veer from his cherished ideals and give in to the vicissitudes of pragmatism. Instead, Guardiola changed English football, seducing it to his ways with the method in his madness. Gradually, the impression that he was a bit stuck-up gave way to the understanding that he is a constant learner. After all, to be an outstanding coach, you have to be a constant student of the game.
Gambhir, too, is not the easiest man to perceive from a distance, which led Ashwin to call him the “most misunderstood cricketer in India”. But listen to those around him, among them Shah Rukh Khan, and the message is loud and clear — this is someone as equipped to lead from the back as he was from the front. Back in 2014, when Gambhir endured a treacherous run of form with the bat, he had made up his mind to drop himself in spite of being the captain. It took an intervention from SRK to stop that. Return to form and another IPL coronation followed soon.
Should Gambhir stay on with KKR and forgo a chance to take charge of the Indian men’s team, there are bound to be many more bumps ahead. The topsy-turvy nature of the most unpredictable franchise tournament in the world will test Gambhir’s patience as well as his nerves. But the unwavering support of the KKR ownership and the back-room team of Chandrakant Pandit, Abhishek Nayar, Bharat Arun, and more will give Gambhir the foundation he needs to keep winning.
It took Guardiola seven attempts to win City’s holy grail — the UEFA Champions League. Throughout that period, the City administration kept faith in him because they knew he remained the best man for the job. There is no doubt that KKR feel the same way about Gambhir, the first man to win the IPL as both captain and mentor.
With Mahendra Singh Dhoni having played his last IPL match (in all likelihood) and Rohit Sharma almost certain to leave the Mumbai Indians (MI), Gambhir is best placed to replicate the success of this season year in and year out at KKR. Next year’s mega auction will introduce fresh chaos, but Gambhir must already know the players he wants to retain and the brand of cricket he wants to continue. The stage, therefore, is set for KKR to emulate the Man City model, to build a dynasty like Guardiola has done in Manchester. And yet, here is where the biggest difference emerges. Even if Gambhir and KKR can shake up the IPL quite like Guardiola and Man City have shaken up the Premier League, Gambhir, unlike Guardiola, will never be convinced to shake a leg!
