Gautam Gambhir recalls his batting in IPL 2014, sheds light on hat-trick of ducks

Gautam Gambhir recently returned to KKR after 6 long years of being away from the franchise. Gambhir has a legacy with KKR as a captain and as a player. The fans treat him as a different entity as far as his association with the franchise is concerned. Before and after Gambhir, KKR has not won a trophy in the IPL. Gambhir has the appeal with the KKR fans subtly. 

KKR got Gambhir back for the IPL 2024 as their mentor. The news brought back joy to the people of their city of joy. After the announcement, Gambhir spoke about his association with KKR and its owner. In a podcast recently, Gambhir appeared, where he talked about a lot of things. The first thing he talked about was the turnaround in the IPL 2014.

Gambhir said how he recovered from the bad performances individually as a batter in the season. "Four or five guys from Delhi were sitting together at the dinner table. Ashish Nehra ordered a duck. He told me to have the duck for dinner; otherwise, I might get another duck in the next match. I just tasted it. I scored one run in that match, and Nehra even messaged me after that," said Gambhir.

'That was my only cricket conversation with him in seven years of my captaincy' - Gautam Gambhir

Gambhir scored three ducks in a row in the season. In the fourth game, he scored a run. The nature of the wickets in the UAE probably did not help the style of Gambhir's play. But he saw his team losing 4 out of their first 5 games. Following it, he had made up his mind to drop himself. Gambhir revealed the conversation he had about the same with Shah Rukh Khan. 

"He asked me to promise him that I would play every game until I was there. I got two or three half-centuries in a row and we won in 2014. That was my only cricket conversation with him in seven years of my captaincy," said the former KKR captain. What followed it, as they saw, was history, as KKR won their second title in three years in the league.