In a dramatic development, Kolkata Knight Riders have let go of head coach Chandrakant Pandit who has resigned from his role on Tuesday (July 29). Known for his hugely successful coaching exploits in India's domestic circuit, Pandit served as KKR's head coach for three seasons from IPL 2023 onwards.
Knight Riders issued a press release to reveal this development. According to the franchise's statement, the decision was mutual with Pandit also keen to move on to newer pastures.
"Chandrakant Pandit has decided to explore new opportunities and will not continue as Head Coach of Kolkata Knight Riders. We are thankful for his invaluable contributions - including leading KKR to the TATA IPL Championship in 2024 and helping build a strong, resilient squad. His leadership and discipline have left a lasting impact on the team. We wish him all the very best for the future," said KKR's official statement.
The 63-year-old's stint with KKR was a mixed bag. He had taken over from Brendon McCullum after the 2022 season as the New Zealander had agreed to a coaching stint with the England senior men's side. Pandit came with solid coaching pedigree, having guided many of India's domestic teams to success across formats. In Pandit's first season, Knight Riders won just six out of the 14 matches and finished at seventh spot. It was an underwhelming start to his regime but the franchise bounced back significantly in IPL 2024 where they won the title for the third time in the tournament's history.
However, Gautam Gambhir's appointment as KKR's mentor prior to that season took a lot of sheen out of this success for Pandit, given that the former India star had a lot more influence in team strategies and squad formations. Nevertheless, an IPL title boosted Pandit's CV but with Gambhir joining India's senior men's side as head coach, KKR endured a season similar to the 2023 season and missed out on the playoffs berth once more. KKR finished eighth on the points table with just five wins and seven losses with two games being washed out.
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Apart from the lack of success in 2023 and 2025, what stood out was the lack of tactical nous when it came to in-game tactics, especially with the batting order that was often underused despite the richness in resources. KKR's retention policies ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction also came in for significant scrutiny as they let go of their title-winning captain Shreyas Iyer and impact pacer Mitchell Starc while also buying back Venkatesh Iyer for an astronomical price of 23.75 crores.
Venkatesh then went on to have a horrific season with the bat and was also dropped towards the fag end of the season due to his extended lean patch. The other major talking point was the appointment of Ajinkya Rahane as captain, which meant that the Mumbai veteran was a bona fide pick in the playing XI - a point not a lot of pundits agreed with. Rahane, though, did have the best PowerPlay strike-rate for any batter in IPL 2025 but his no.3 slot meant that he had to handle a lot of middle-overs bowling, especially spinners against whom his strike-rate dipped a lot frequently. This was another of the many batting order blunders that the KKR think tank under Pandit were guilty of.
Currently, there is no info over who Pandit's replacement will be or which new team he is going to coach.