IPL: Former India bowler Zaheer Khan succeeds Gautam Gambhir as new mentor for Lucknow Super Giants

Former India bowler Zaheer Khan has succeeded Gautam Gambhir as the new mentor for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), as announced by the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise  on Wednesday (Aug 28). Zaheer, who represented Mumbai Indians (MI) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) during his playing stint, will take the role from IPL 2025. Having opted to keep the mentor role vacant after Gambhir’s departure before IPL 2024, LSG will look to bounce back and make it to the playoffs in the coming edition.

Having kept the role vacant after Gambhir’s departure in 2023, the LSG team directors decided to hire Zaheer ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auctions. He will look after the overall development of players and could be seen on the team’s auction table during the mega auction likely to take place in December. Zaheer will work with head coach Justin Langer during his stint as mentor as they aim to return to the top four of the IPL standings.

Gambhir served as the mentor of the side for the 2022 and 2023 seasons, having worked with them since the launch of the franchise. During his successful stint, Gambhir led LSG to back-to-back playoffs and was renowned for his aggressive nature in the middle.

Zaheer has previously worked with the Mumbai Indians in a coaching capacity, having announced his retirement after IPL 2015. He is well known for his exploits with the ball in the 2011 ODI World Cup, where he helped Team India end the 28-year ODI World Cup drought. He was India’s lead wicket-taker during the World Cup with 21 scalps and was crucial for India’s success under MS Dhoni. In his Test career, he represented India in 92 Test matches and scalped 311 wickets, holding the distinction of being the second-highest wicket-taker by a pacer for India in the red-ball format.

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