The limelight may be on Gautam and Shah Rukh Khan after Kolkata Knight Riders’ third IPL title. With the victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Along with Gambhir and Shah Rukh Khan, Russell, Naraine, and Starc have also hogged the limelight. 

Chandrakant Pandit becomes the first man to win the IPL and the Ranji Trophy as a head coach. But with KKR celebrating on Sunday night, some of the team's players made sure that one unsung hero also deserves his due credit. He is the team's assistant coach Abhishek Nayar.

While being interviewed by Harsha Bhogle after KKR won the 2024 IPL Final, Varun Chakravarthy and Venkatesh Iyer spoke highly about the role played by Abhishek Nayar in orchestrating their success.

"All I can think of right now is the person who built this Indian core. The main guy behind this is Abhishek Nayar," said Chakravarthy.

And what an Indian core it has been. Chakravarthy picked up 21 wickets. Harshit Rana and Vairav Arora got 19 and 11 wickets, respectively. Iyer scored 370 runs. Teenage talent Angkrish Raghuvanshi scored fifty on debut.

Ramandeep Singh was a revelation lower down the order, adding vital runs and impressing on the field.

Venkatesh Iyer, who scored a 26-ball 52 in the IPL Final, added to the praise. “Abhishek Nayar deserves all the credit in the world. Some of his contributions go unnoticed, I want to make sure it doesn't,” he said. 

Iyer was retained by KKR before the previous mega auction, in favour of Shubman Gill, a symbol of the faith shown by Nayar.

Abhishek Nayar has also played a significant role in developing the young Indian core that KKR has banked on. Apart from being the assistant coach, he has also been the mentor and head coach of the KKR Academy. One such starlet he's seen rise is 18-year-old Angkrish Raghuvanshi. His father Avneesh thanked Nayar on Instagram.