Aura and thrill associated with Gambhir is slightly missing for me: KKR pacer Harshit

New Delhi: Pacer Harshit Rana on Monday said he misses the "thrill and aura" associated with his long-time mentor Gautam Gambhir in the Kolkata Knight Riders' dugout.

Under Gambhir's mentorship, Harshit had a breakthrough IPL 2024 season in which he snapped 19 scalps in KKR's IPL-winning campaign and never looked back.

Before another 12 months ended, Gambhir had ensured that the burly pacer, who gets some zip off the surface makes his India debut across all three formats and does decently.

No wonder the protege, who owes his success to 'Guru' Gambhir is missing his presence as KKR are in midst of a poor season with only six points and a seventh place in the league table.

Asked if the team misses him, Harshit replied: "I won't say that because composition of our support staff is basically the same (from last year). (Abhishek) Nayar Bhai has also come back. Chandu Sir, (Dwayne) Bravo are all good. But yes, there is this thrill factor which I miss a little. I am not talking about anyone else."

When prodded to elaborate on Gambhir, he said: "You also know that Gambhir has an aura, the way he comes and takes the team along. I was just talking about that."

Abhishek Nayar, who was part of the franchise as a coach during the 2024 season, has re-joined the KKR coaching staff for the remaining IPL season after BCCI sacked him from assistant coach's post with the Indian national team in the wake of the poor show in Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Harshit feels that Nayar's presence will make a hue difference for his innovative, out of the box strategies.

"There will be a lot of changes now that he (Abhishek Nayar) has come back. Because he is a very smart mind. He reads situations very well and he knows the Indian core of our (KKR) team very well. He has groomed them for many years. So we also get a lot of help now that he has come back. So it feels good".

The 23-year-old Rana has emerged as India’s most reliable young fast bowler in the last few months, having played a Test in Australia, five ODIs and a T20I so far.

"There have been a lot of changes in my thought process as to how I play the game. Here, in KKR, the role has increased a little. That I have to do it. So it's a good thing. I like it," Rana said.

KKR is reeling from two consecutive losses and a washed-out match and one of the reason is their bowling, which doesn't have an overseas operator like last edition when Mitchell Starc made the difference with couple of tournament winning spells in the play-offs and final.

However, Rana backed the bowlers, saying there is nothing missing in the unit.

"Our Indian bowling group is so strong. So there is nothing missing. Overall, our bowling has been very good in the tournament," he said.

"We have not missed anything that we need overseas. Vaibhav is doing very well. In the last game, Chetan has bowled very well. So there is nothing like that..

Rana has taken 11 wickets so far for KKR this season but said he is not too happy with his performance. The x-factor is missing from his bowling.

"I am not that much happy with my performance. I am not getting what I want. I hope that in the next 5 games, I will go and do better in this season. But I have to focus on that.

To a question on reverse swing, he said: "Reverse swing has become an important factor since we can use saliva now. So it does help us at the death." KKR will hope to revive their fortunes when they take on Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here on Tuesday.

Rana said reading the pitch will be crucial.

"The expectation is the same as in Kotla, the bounce is usually low. Even yesterday, the RCB bowlers used the slow one which gripped very well. The aim is that the sooner we read the pitch, the better it will be for us."