Almost all the changes that newly appointed head coach Gautam Gambhir suggested to BCCI for the Indian cricket team’s support staff have been endorsed by BCCI. This is a new phase in team management and coaching since Gambhir is interested in injecting new ideas and experience into the Indian team to improve the team’s performance in subsequent series and competitions.
Gautam Gambhir prefers former Indian all-rounder, Abhishek Nayar to be the assistant coach of the team. Nayar, who is well regarded for his ability to identify potential in players and mold them for the right opportunities, will have a crucial role in concentrating on the batters to come up with the right skills, though there won’t be a specific batting coach in the ranks. The new assistant coach, Nayar, has been given a contract for three years, as per the duration given to Gambhir.
Besides, Ryan ten Doeschate, the ex-Dutch cricketer, will also become a part of the support staff and travel to Sri Lanka for India’s white-ball tour of the island. It was emphasized that the experience and versatility of Ten Doeschate will add a lot of value to the team.
Gambhir Puts in Nayar and Ten Doeschate
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Gambhir’s decision to include Abhishek Nayar and Ten Doeschate in the roles is due to his interaction with them when he was a mentor for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). With their help, KKR became the winner of the IPL 2024, and Nayar, more specifically, has focused on the growth of the team’s reserve, availability, and education of young Indian talent.
The talent-nurturing ability of the KKR can be defined by the fact that they produced 11 Indian players in the last seven years, and Nayar has been one of them. There have been many instances where talented players like Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Varun Chakaravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer, and talented fast bowler Harshit Rana, who all were bought by KKR, have represented India at the international level.
Potential Bowling Coach Appointment
One more addition to the support staff is perhaps the appointment of former South African fast bowler Morne Morkel as the new bowling coach of India. Morkel, who earlier worked as the bowling coach of the Lucknow Super Giants, and Gambhir were associated as mentors with the team. He has also worked as a bowling coach in Pakistan, which proves his efficiency in grooming and mentoring bowlers in international cricket.
The only one from the staff of former chief Rahul Dravid who stays on the team is fielding coach T. Dilip. Dilip has been receiving much appreciation for his job well done and will similarly go on to strengthen the fielding of the team.
Official Bulletins and Press Briefing
Even though the BCCI has not publicly announced these support staff appointments, it is reported that the press conference to announce the above appointments is set for Monday in Mumbai. At this function, Gambhir will be officially introduced as the head coach of this team. The chief selector, Ajit Agarkar himself, will be present in the pre-departure press conference, thus giving a demonstration of how united the team management is about the future of Team India.
It may be recalled that the Indian cricket team will be leaving Mumbai for Colombo on a chartered flight on Monday. The Sri Lanka tour will comprise three T20s on July 27 and three one-day internationals on August 2. This particular series is a landmark event in Gambhir’s coaching career, as this is his first assignment with this particular team.
The final decision will have to be made before November- ends to facilitate proper planning, and it has been learned that chief selector Ajit Agarkar will travel with the team to Sri Lanka. This will enable Gambhir, Agarkar, Rohit Sharma, who is the ODI captain, Virat Kohli as a senior batsman, and SKY to sit down and map out all the required strategies for Team India in the next two years.
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