We were forced to: Dressing room unrest behind Chandrakant Pandit’s dismissal? The KKR CEO is lifting the lid on the coaching staff overhaul

Ahead of the next season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have overhauled their coaching staff. The decision comes after their poor campaign in IPL 2025.

KKR were the defending champions but endured a terrible campaign as they failed to qualify for the play-offs. With just five wins from fourteen matches, the three-time IPL winners finished a disappointing eighth place in the table.

After the disappointing campaign, KKR sacked Chandrakant Pandit as their head coach and appointed Abhishek Nayar as his replacement. Besides appointing Nayar as head coach, KKR has also roped in Tim Southee and Shane Watson as bowling coach and assistant coach respectively. Recently, Andre Russell was also confirmed as the ‘power coach’ for the franchise.

Also read: There was no intention of any retention but…: KKR CEO Venky Mysore sensationally reveals that IPL changed rules to favor certain teams in 2011

KKR CEO on Chandrakant Pandit’s departure:

While not many eyebrows were raised when KKR decided to sack Pandit as head coach earlier this year, the franchise’s CEO Venky Mysore has hinted that there is more to the story than meets the eye. In a recent interview, Mysore hinted that unrest in the dressing room was one of the reasons behind the dismissal.

He stated that the franchise wanted to bring in contemporary cricketers and indirectly stated that the players did not have much connection with Pandit.

“Why the reset is because we were forced to, no? Last year [after 2024 IPL] our coaching cupboard was cleaned out. [Gautam Gambhir, Abhishek Nayar, Ryan ten Doeschate, the KKR mentor and assistant coaches, took over coaching roles with Indian men’s team]. But what I’m really learning is that it’s not a perfect science when it comes to players making the transition to coaching, and whether they can be as good as they were as players.” Mysore told ESPNcricinfo.

“So the point I’m making is that their sensitive stuff will be so strong during the game because they: [and are still] just play. And secondly, what happens is the way they can relate to the players about what the players are going through. So when you attend team meetings, strategy planning, etc., the players also realize that if it’s coming from them, these are people who have just been there, who have done it recently,” he added.