The former cricketer of Indian cricket team Gautam Gambhir remains a man of extreme interest because of the role he played in the Kolkata Knight Riders' victory in the Indian Premier League 2024. Ahead of this year's campaign, he joined the KKR campaign, leaving Lucknow Super Giants, a franchise he had spent two years with. It has now been reported that Gambhir's switch from Lucknow to Kolkata wasn't a short-term call. In fact, a report has claimed that Gambhir and Shah Rukh Khan, KKR's co-owner, would often meet at the latter's house between 2018 and 2022.
According to a report, after being given the 'blank cheque' offer by Shah Rukh, who asked the former India opener to be at the Knight Riders for the next 10 years, Gambhir made up his mind of leaving the Lucknow franchise in 2023.
Last year, as Gambhir contemplated the idea of leaving LSG, despite having spent a couple of decent campaigns with the franchise, Shah Rukh was ready to not let the opportunity slip up. The Bollywood icon reportedly invited Gambhir to his house, 'Mannat', and had a chat for 2 hours.
Gambhir, who had led KKR to two IPL titles in 2012 and 2014 as captain, was ready for the new challenge and decided to take up the KKR job. But all of this came as a big surprise to LSG owner Sanjeev Goenka, who was astonished by the developments.