BCCI rejects all of Gautam Gambhir’s suggestions for support staff roles except one
Why is BCCI delaying Gautam Gambhir's appointment as India head coach? Full details out
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has rejected new head coach Gautam Gambhir's all support staff choices, except one. Among the names suggested by Gambhir, only Abhishek Nayar was the only name approved for the role of batting coach by the Indian cricket board according to a reportby Economics Times.
The names suggested by Gambhir were South African pacer Morne Morkel and former India bowler Lakshmipathy Balaji for the bowling coach role. For the fielding coach role, Netherlands' Ryan ten Doeschate and South African Jonty Rhodes were also named by Gambhir.
The BCCI, on the other hand, is reportedly keen to have former India pacer Zaheer Khan as the bowling coach while T Dilip, fielding coach under Rahul Dravid, is still the first choice for the role.
The board's stance is somewhat different from what has been seen in the tenure of previous coaches namely Ravi Shastri and Rahul Dravid. Both of them had the support staff of their choice.
Gambhir took over from Rahul Dravid after India's T20 World Cup glory. The former Indian opener has coaching experience in IPL and has led Kolkata Knight Riders to the title in the 2024 season as a mentor.
His first assignment will be the tour of Sri Lanka where India will play three T20Is on July 27, 28 and 30 to go with three ODIs on August 2, 4 and 7.
India is also looking for a new T20I skipper after Rohit Sharma announced his retirement from the format following India's T20 World Cup win.
As of now, Suryakumar Yadav is expected to be named India's T20I skipper and not Hardik Pandya for the upcoming white-ball tour of Sri Lanka.
Surya was India's skipper during the 4-1 T20I series win against Australia following the ODI World Cup 2023 and in the 1-1 drawn series against South Africa thereafter.
