Gambhir backs former KKR teammate as India's bowling coach, BCCI keen to rope in THIS WC winner: Report
BCCI to appoint THIS WC winner as India's bowling coach: Report
On Tuesday (July 9), the BCCI named Gautam Gambhir as Team India's head coach until the 2027 ODI World Cup. Gambhir will take over from India's upcoming white-ball tour of Sri Lanka, from July 27, and is set to be given his own support staff as well. His predecessor Rahul Dravid had Vikram Rathour, ParasMhambrey and T Dilip as the batting, bowling and fielding coaches, respectively, but Gambhir will have a newsupport staff. While several names have been doing the rounds, Jonty Rhodes is believed to be the next fielding coach with Gambhir keen to have Abhishek Nayar as the assistant coach.
For the bowling coach, Gambhir is reportedly eager to have his former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) teammate Vinay Kumar. However, BCCI is not on the same page and wants 2011 ODI World Cup winner Zaheer Khan to succeed Mhambrey. Sources told ANI, "BCCI is discussing the names of Zaheer Khan and Lakshmipathy Balaji for the position of bowling coach. BCCI is not interested in the name of Vinay Kumar."
Zaheer, India's fourth-highest wicket-taker in ODIs (269 scalps), has been part of the Mumbai Indians (MI) coaching setup post international retirement in 2014. The former left-arm pacer has been one of India's most decorated pacers, with 311 Test wickets as well, and was the MS Dhoni-led side's highest wicket-taker (21; joint-most) in their triumphant run in the 2011 ODI World Cup, co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
It will be interesting to see who joins Gambhir-led support staff. As of now, no one has been finalised but the names are expected to come out in the coming few days. Gambhir's first assignment as India coach will be the tour of Sri Lanka, where they will play three ODIs and T20Is each.