Venkatesh Iyer has opened up about the demanding atmosphere Gautam Gambhir created inside the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) dressing room during their successful IPL 2024 campaign. The Indian batter recalled how Gambhir’s presence, high expectations and emphasis on excellence pushed players to maintain exceptional standards throughout the tournament. Gambhir returned to KKR as a mentor ahead of the 2024 season, having previously captained the franchise to IPL titles in 2012 and 2014. His arrival proved influential as Kolkata went on to win their third championship.

According to Iyer, Gautam Gambhir’s contribution extended beyond tactical planning, as he helped establish a competitive culture where players were expected to deliver their best. Speaking about Gambhir’s influence, Iyer explained that there was an unspoken expectation of excellence in the dressing room. His presence alone was enough to make players conscious of their performances and the standards they needed to maintain.

“He was sitting right behind us. There was no fear. And there was no place for mediocrity in that dressing room. You can’t play a mediocre shot or a false stroke and come sit next to him. You can’t do that,” Venkatesh Iyer was quoted as saying by The Cricket News. “Not that, and it wasn’t a written rule… you could sit there if you wanted, but in my view, perhaps his aura was such that: ‘Boss, only excellence will work in this team, mediocrity will not be tolerated,’” he added.

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Iyer also revealed an interesting aspect of KKR’s batting preparations under Gambhir. The franchise maintained an environment where multiple batters remained padded up and ready to enter the middle, sometimes from as early as the second over. With Sunil Narine and Phil Salt opening the innings, Angkrish Raghuvanshi and other middle-order batters were expected to remain prepared for an opportunity.

“Our two openers, Narine and Salt, would go out to bat. Angkrish would sit there with his pads on. He just sat there, while the rest of us- me, Shreyas, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep, and Andre Russell- sat inside; all five of us would be padded up and ready to go from the second over itself,” Venkatesh Iyer explained.

He described the atmosphere as highly competitive, with every batter eager to take responsibility whenever the team required a change. “There was this competition; anyone could go in at any moment, boss. We stayed ready, like literally. I, of course, saw it from my own perspective, but looking at them, they were like lions ready to go: ‘Just send us in, we’ll go and…’ And touch wood, Salt and Narine wouldn’t get out, they wouldn’t get out for a long time,” he said.

Iyer further recalled how Gambhir communicated potential batting changes depending on the progress of the opening partnership. If the openers continued batting, the mentor would adjust the next batter according to the match situation and the need for a left-right combination.

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“If they didn’t get out for three or four overs, GG sir from over there would say: ‘Angkrish, Venky is going next’, and I’d be ready. If they still didn’t get out for two more overs, he’d say from there: ‘It’s a left-right combination, Venky and Shreyas’ – and both of us would be ready. Then, if they stayed in even longer: ‘Call Russell, tell Russell’; but all of us were raring to go like that,” Iyer said.

Reflecting on the experience, the batter admitted that it was the first time he had witnessed such an approach to batting preparation. “That was the first time I witnessed something like that: give us an opportunity and we will go smash it,” he concluded.