This Is How Shah Rukh Khan Helped When Gautam Gambhir "Was On Verge Of Dropping" Himself From KKR Team In 2014

Kolkata Knight Riders' mentor Gautam Gambhir has recalled how the team co-owner Shah Rukh Khan once helped him overcome his lean patch with the bat. The incident happened during the 2014 IPL when Gambhir, who was the captain of the team back then, failed to perform well at the start of the edition and thought of dropping himself at one point. This is when SRK told him not to do so. The result saw Gambhir leading KKR to the title.

Overall, Gambhir led KKR to two IPL titles with the another one coming in the 2012 edition. Ahead of IPL 2024, Gambhir joined KKR as the mentor of the side.

"I couldn't score one run in four games. I've said it a numerous times I think he is the best owner I've worked with. It's not because I'm now part of KKR or I was part of KKR," Gambhir said in KKR Knights Dugout Podcast.

"I don't think so in seven years of me captaining KKR we have had a cricketing conversation even for seven minutes, except that patch that I was going through. That time also we had the conversation because I was on the verge of dropping myself. The only thing he told me was, 'till you're here, you are not going to drop yourself'," he added.

Gambhir further praised Shah Rukh by citing the trust the Bollywood actor put in him.

"Imagine someone, as an owner who himself has been such a big achiever, not even talking about cricket or asking you a single thing about your decision making. He trusted you decision-making," he said.

"I'm not saying I took all the right decisions. But he never questioned my decisions that's the trust he had in me," Gambhir signed off.