Is Indian cricket to undergo a coaching reset?

Team India in a huddle during one of their training sessions. (BCCI | X) New Delhi: The Indian cricket team is likely to undergo a coaching reset, with at least one prominent member of the support staff having to leave.It’s not very clear at this point if the possible departure is simply due to a member of the coaching staff’s growing distaste for continuing in an existing role, or if he’s transitioning to a new coaching position, or both.The coaching group led by Gautam Gambhir took charge in July 2024, starting with the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka.For the record, bowling coach Morne Morkel joined the coaching staff a bit later, ahead of the Bangladesh Test series, while the rest of the support staff started working alongside Gambhir.It is understood that the support staff has signed a 2+1 contract with the BCCI. While the cricket board and coaches have the option to extend their tenure by one year beyond the initial two years, at least one coach is understood to have already held talks with a global Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise and is likely to join their line-up.At this stage, it cannot be ruled out that another member of the support staff will be promoted in the near future.Tech Word News. com reached out to BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia, the coaches concerned and the IPL franchise to comment on the strong buzz in Indian cricket circles. The story will be updated once they respond.This possible move is not due to the team’s poor performances in Ireland and England, but rather something that has been brewing in recent months. It is understood that since the two-Test defeat against South Africa at home, cracks have deepened in the dressing room and it is not the happiest of places at the moment. Disagreements between the selectors and the coaching staff further complicated the situation.It is further understood that the addition of Sairaj Bahutale to the coaching set-up as the spin-bowling coach was not a done deal. Bahutale had earlier served as the interim bowling coach for the 2024 tour of Sri Lanka when Morkel was unable to join the team due to a family emergency.Although there is no confirmation, the potential departure of members of the support staff may have prompted the Indian Cricket Board to send a different set of coaches for the short Zimbabwe series. A well-placed source questioned the move as the Gambhir-led support staff had a long break during the IPL and the Zimbabwe series would only be their fourth assignment, a very short one.“I don’t quite understand the need to send VVS Laxman to Zimbabwe. I also don’t understand the plan to send him to the Asian Games. There is clearly more to it than meets the eye and the Indian cricket board may be exploring options,” the source said.BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia issued a statement on Friday stressing that the board will review the team’s recent performances, but said “nothing else will be discussed”.“The BCCI is currently monitoring the performance of the Indian T20 team, which has underperformed in the ongoing series against England. However, this is not unusual and can happen in international cricket. We consider this a temporary bad phase. Once the ODI series ends on July 19 and the team returns, we will hold a review meeting with key team members to discuss what went wrong in the ODI series to England.” form.”“The review meeting will be solely about the team’s performance and how course correction can be done keeping in mind the shortcomings. Nothing else will be discussed,” Saikia said.The next few weeks could be very interesting for Indian cricket as unless the coaches concerned have a belated change, the set-up could have a new look as early as the Test series against Sri Lanka. The timing may change, but it may take considerable convincing from the Indian cricket board and head coach Gambhir to retain a prominent name or names in the set-up.Gambhir took charge of the team in the 2024 away series against Sri Lanka and picked members of the support staff including Ryan ten Doeschate, Morne Morkel and Abhishek Nayar. T Dilip retained the position of fielding coach while Sitanshu Kotak was later added as batting coach before Nayar was relieved of his duties after India won the 2025 Champions Trophy.

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