As per reports, the franchise informed him of the decision last week and an official announcement is expected soon. Nayar first joined KKR in 2018 as the head of the KKR Academy in Mumbai, where he trained several young players and built strong ties with star players like Rinku Singh and Varun Chakaravarthy, who still praise him for his mentorship.

The former Mumbai all-rounder later became KKR's batting coach and was part of Chandrakant Pandit's support staff that helped the team to win the IPL 2024 title, their third trophy. However, the franchise parted ways with Chandrakant Pandit after a disappointing 2025 campaign.

 When Gautam Gambhir was appointed India's head coach, he also brought Nayar and fielding coach Ryan ten Doeschate with him as assistant coaches. However, Nayar was removed from the national supports staff earlier this year after India's poor performance in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Sitanshu Kotak has replaced him as India's new batting coach.

Although Nayar doesn't have major achievements as a coach yet, but he has worked closely with top players like Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Dinesh Karthik, all of them credited him for helping them to overcome the tough phases in their careers.

 

The Indian Express on Sunday (Oct 26) confirmed the news of his promotion within the team setup. Now, it will be interesting to see how he handles the greater responsibility of leading KKR as head coach. Earlier this year, he was also appointed as the head coach of the Women's Premier League team UP Warriorz, so it's unclear if he will continue in that role.