Is Abhishek Nayar headed back to Kolkata Knight Riders fold?

The suspense over as the assistant coach of the Indian cricket men's team continued throughout the day on Friday, though the buzz now is about a possible return to his ex-employers Kolkata Knight Riders. Early on Friday, KKR star mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy released a photo of himself with Nayar on his Instagram handle, but no accompanying caption, setting the rumour mills abuzz.

It should come as no surprise that Nayar has once again been linked to the franchise with whom he was associated as a mentor at the KKR academy in Mumbai since 2018, before joining them as assistant coach. He was also part of the support system for mentor Gautam Gambhir, with the team winning the IPL title after a decade last year, but was then wooed by the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) to join the support staff of the Indian team.

A spokesperson of the KKR management said they have got 'nothing to say' on the issue while the BCCI are yet to officially comment on media reports over the past 24 hours. BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia told National Herald over phone on Thursday: ‘’A lot of news is in circulation. You will hear from the BCCI shortly.’’

It has been a practice with the Indian senior team that a new head coach brings along personnel of his choice, as with previous appointees Ravi Shastri and Rahul Dravid, the latter preferring the experience of those who worked with him at the National Cricket Academy. Gambhir, on his part, zeroed in on erstwhile KKR staff and someone like Morne Morkel, the South African quick who was part of his dugout at the Lucknow Super Giants.

A Hindustan Times report, meanwhile, says Gambhir did not ‘object’ to Nayar’s sacking after only eight months into the contrac, though that's all but natural. There are a number of theories in circulation about the reasons behind the axe falling on Nayar, the most credible being that he was made a scapegoat as domestic veteran Sitangshu Kotak had already been appointed as batting coach after the Australia tour to send a strong message across to Nayar that his days were numbered.

The possibility of Nayar’s return to KKR looks a distinct one under the circumstances, though the dugout hardly has any ‘vacancy’ at the moment. Dwayne Bravo is the new mentor, veteran Chandrakant Pandit the head coach, Bharat Arun is bowling coach, and West Indian Otis Gibson is assistant coach. The Purple Army’s campaign, meanwhile, has been inconsistent this season, though they are still in the reckoning and the management may not want to rock the boat midway through.

While Nayar’s international experience may be limited to three ODIs, he had been instrumental in shaping the careers of a number of unheralded players into finished products at their academy — Chakravarthy, Rinku Singh, young Angkrish Raghuvanshi, pace bowlers Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora, while former KKR captain Dinesh Karthik officially appointed him as a batting mentor.

K.L. Rahul, a senior member of the Indian squad, had openly lauded Nayar’s contribution to his form at the ICC Champions Trophy in Dubai. The last, it seems, is yet to be heard on the Abhishek Nayar saga.