The most famed coach in the Indian domestic circuit, Chandrakant Pandit, recently led Madhya Pradesh to their first Ranji Trophy victory after helping Mumbai and Vidarbha win the national championship multiple times
Chandrakant Pandit, the dean of Indian domestic coaches, has been named head coach of Kolkata Knight Riders for the upcoming IPL season, the team revealed on Wednesday. Brendon McCullum, who is now the coach of the England Test team, is replaced by Pandit.
Pandit, who played for India in 36 ODIs and five Test matches between 1986 and 1992, is a well-respected coach on the domestic Indian arena. With Mumbai, he won the Ranji Trophy, India’s top first-class competition, in 2002-03, 2003-04, and 2015-16.
However, his greatest accomplishments may have been with lesser-known teams. For example, his victory with an underdog Madhya Pradesh squad last season followed similarly successful campaigns with Vidarbha, which he helped win the Ranji Trophy for the first time in 2017-18 and then defend in 2018-19. When Rajasthan successfully defended their Ranji title in 2011–12—only their second ever—Pandit was also Rajasthan’s director of cricket.
Pandit’s maiden appointment at an IPL team will be this one. He will serve as KKR’s first Indian head coach, and he will collaborate with Bharat Arun (bowling coach) and Abhishek Nayar (assistant coach), a former student of his from Mumbai.
“We are very excited that Chandu is joining the Knight Riders family to lead us through the next phase of our journey,” Knight Riders CEO Venky Mysore said in a statement. “His deep commitment to what he does and his track record of success in domestic cricket is there for everyone to see. We are looking forward to his partnership with our skipper Shreyas Iyer which promises to be an exciting one.”
Pandit will also get to see KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer again because he assisted Iyer in making the transition from the Mumbai Under-19s to the senior squad. Iyer’s debut Ranji campaign in 2015–16, during which he led the tournament totals with 1321 runs and scored the match-winning century against Saurashtra in the final, occurred under Pandit. At the time, a young Iyer had enthusiastically discussed the discipline and patience teachings he had learnt from a tactician like Pandit.
Pandit has previously had affiliations with the National Cricket Academy and the India Under-19s in addition to his involvement with several domestic teams. He led the Indian squad at the 2010 Under-19 World Cup, which featured players like KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Harshal Patel, Mandeep Singh, and Jaydev Unadkat, among others.
“I have heard from players and others who have been associated with the Knight Riders about the family culture as well as the tradition of success that has been created,” Pandit said in a statement. “I am excited about the quality of the support staff and the players who are part of the set-up, and I am looking forward to this opportunity with all humility and positive expectations.”
IPL titles were won by KKR in 2012 and 2014. Since then, the closest they’ve gotten was in 2021, when they fell to Chennai Super Kings in the final. This season, a string of mediocre performances in the early half of the season eliminated them from postseason contention, and they ultimately placed seventh on the ten-team standings with six wins and eight losses.
