KKR's biggest loss was letting Suryakumar Yadav go: Gautam Gambhir

Bengaluru, September 25: Former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Gautam Gambhir said his only regret from his successful stint as captain of the Kolkata-based franchise was not in using Suryakumar Yadav at the key No.3 position in the batting order, a decision which probably led to the batsman moving to Mumbai Indians and proving his worth there.

Suryakumar was initially signed by the Mumbai Indians for the IPL 2012 season.

After playing just one match in the season where he was dismissed without scoring, KKR bought the dynamic batsman in the 2014 IPL auction.

He made headlines in IPL 2015 when he hit a match-winning, 20-ball 46 with five sixes, against his ext-team -- Mumbai Indians at the Eden Gardens.

The right-handeed batsman then rejoined Mumbai Indians in 2018 after spending four seasons with KKR.

After re-uniting with Mumbai Indians, Suryakumar has gone on from strenghth to strength, and scored 400-plus in his last three seasons for the defending champions.

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"Someone's loss is someone else's massive gain. And that's exactly what happened with Mumbai Indians. KKR let go of him and now he has become a mainstay of Mumbai Indians' batting line-up," Gambhir, was quoted as saying in the Star Sports studio during the IPL panel discussion.

Gambhir, who is now a Member of Parliament, dwelled further on the reason behind not sending Suryakumar at 3.

"The only regret I've is not pushing Suryakumar Yadav at No. 3. There were players like Manish Pandey and Yusuf Pathan, and so we had to always use him as a finisher. A lot of players go on from one franchise to another. From KKR's point of view, this has to be KKR's biggest loss, letting go of Suryakumar Yadav," he said.

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"He's someone whom we groomed for four years and then let him go and now he's at the peak of his career.

"Because we couldn't give him in the No.3 position, he wasn't able to get those 400-500 runs in a season, batting at No. 7," added Gambhir, who led KKR to two IPL titles -- 2012 and 2014.