Abhishek Nayar knows just about every cricketer on the planet: Shane Watson

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) assistant coach Shane Watson has heaped praise on the team’s head coach Abhishek Nayar for possessing an exceptional knowledge of Indian domestic cricketers.

Advertisment

Speaking exclusively on the Kolkata Knight Riders' YouTube channel, Watson asserted that he was confident that even if the franchise missed out on a domestic player at the IPL 2026 mini-auction, Nayar would have already covered with two or three alternatives lined up.

"I'll say this straight away, I think Abhishek Nayar knows just about every cricketer on the planet. His understanding of Indian domestic players, their stats, where they're at, what they've been doing recently, the depth of his intel - it's extraordinary. I'm not sure I've come across anyone with that level of knowledge across Indian cricket." Watson said on the KKR YouTube channel.

"Going into the auction, I had complete confidence that even if we missed out on any domestic player we were targeting, Abhishek would already have had two or three alternatives lined up, with clear insight into their strengths,” Watson added.

“He was regularly sending me videos, breaking down each player's performances across every possible scenario. That level of preparation gave us enormous confidence. Leaning on Abhishek's intel, we knew things were going to work out well for us in the auction. When you have someone like Abhishek leading that process, you know you're always going to build a squad filled with some serious domestic talent and quality," he asserted.

At the mini-auction, KKR acquired Cameron Green, Rachin Ravindra, Finn Allen, Kartik Tyagi, Rahul Tripathi, Tim Seifert, Sarthak Ranjan, Akash Deep, Matheesha Pathirana, Prashant Solanki, Mustafizur Rahman, Tejasvi Singh, and Daksh Kamra.

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) full squad for IPL 2026

Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell*, Sunil Narine*, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, Cameron Green*, Matheesha Pathirana*, Mustafizur Rahman*, Tejasvi Singh, Rachin Ravindra*, Finn Allen*, Tim Seifert*, Akash Deep, Rahul Tripathi, Daksh Kamra, Sarthak Ranjan, Prashant Solanki, Kartik Tyagi.

Advertisment

*denotes overseas player.

Stay updated with the latest cricket news, match insights, and exclusive updates at Sky247 India and download the Sky247 app to start betting today!