The newly appointed assistant coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders, Shane Watson, is in awe watching the depth in Abhishek Nayar's knowledge of the Indian domestic cricket. Notably, Nayar has worked with the domestic cricketers for a long time, as has been training in the KKR academy before being promoted as the batting coach. In 2025, he was promoted as the Head coach for the 2026 season, but his awareness of the domestic circle seems unmatched, as per Watto. The former australian allrounder while speaking on KKR's YouTube channel, put his hands down while speaking about Nayar. According to Watson, there seems to be no cricketer in the "planet" who Nayar doesn't know. Watson said, “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." Read also: Smriti Mandhana Becomes First Indian Woman to Score 4000 T20I Runs Nayar's homework praised by Watson Abhishek Nayar is widely loved in the international circuit for his coaching. But domestic players have seen his contribution. Angrish Raghuvanshu and Rinku Singh are products of the Nayar camp. Watson further highlighted how much Nayar invested in the auction. He used to send videos of players to Watson and already made a backup playing XI in his mind in case they miss the target. Praising Nayar's homework, Watson said, "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. He was regularly sending me videos, breaking down each player’s performances across every possible scenario. That level of preparation gave us enormous confidence." He added, "Leaning on Abhishek’s intel, we just 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." Kolkata Knight Riders lifted the IPL trophy in 2024 but slipped to a seventh-place finish in 2025. Despite the dip, KKR showed intent by using their big budget wisely, blending marquee names like Cameron Green and Matheesha Pathirana with promising youngsters such as Tejasvi Singh, Prashant Solanki, Sarthan Ranjan and Daksh Kamra. With Nayar set to lead the rebuild, the franchise is eyeing a strong comeback in the 2026 IPL.