Rajat Bhatia reveals reason behind KKR's success and Gautam Gambhir's top leadership hack

India’s domestic cricket veteran Rajat Bhatia retired from all forms of the game in July 2020. The all-rounder played 95 matches in the Indian Premier League (IPL) during his playing days, having represented franchises like the Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) and the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). The cricketer was part of the victorious KKR unit in 2012, where he contributed with 13 wickets under the leadership of his Delhi teammate Gautam Gambhir.

Rajat Bhatia talks about Gautam Gambhir’s success as captain

During an interview with SportsTiger, Rajat Bhatia said that he “really enjoyed” playing under the captaincy of Gautam Gambhir. They both played for the Delhi franchise in the initial years of the tournament. In 2011, both cricketers jumped to the KKR camp where they enjoyed immense success.

Rajat Bhatia revealed that he had doubts initially whether he would enjoy playing under Gambhir or not. However, he ended up featuring in the playing XI of all KKR matches under Gambhir. Bhatia said that there was a “huge advantage” with Gambhir being his IPL skipper because they both also played for the same state team in domestic cricket. The all-rounder claimed that the former Indian opening batsman always knew what was required of him.

Rajat Bhatia also talked in similar veins about another former Indian opener, Virender Sehwag. He said that much like Gambhir, Virender Sehwag also backed his players. He added that he learned much about Sehwag’s captaincy while playing under him for two years for the Delhi Daredevils.

KKR IPL 2021 schedule and team updates 

KKR team 2021

On January 20, the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise retained 17 of their star players from the previous edition of the league. The following month, they further enhanced their squad with new additions in the form of Harbhajan Singh, Shakib Al Hasan and a couple of uncapped Indian cricketers like Vaibhav Arora and Venkatesh Iyer. Here is a look at the entire KKR team players slated to participate in the upcoming IPL 2021 season.

Eoin Morgan (c), Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, Rahul Tripathi, Varun Chakravarthy, Tim Seifert, Harbhajan Singh, Shakib Al Hasan, Sheldon Jackson, Vaibhav Arora, Venkatesh Iyer, Karun Nair and Ben Cutting.

KKR IPL 2021 schedule

As per the KKR IPL 2021 schedule, the Eoin Morgan-led side will take on the SRH in their opening match of IPL 2021 on April 11 in Chennai. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 PM IST. The Kolkata Knight Riders are set to play their first three matches in Chennai, followed by two in Mumbai, four in Ahmedabad and their final five games in Bengaluru.

A look at KKR IPL 2021 schedule:

Image source: IPLT20.COM