File photo of Sitanshu Kotak.© X (formerly Twitter)
Former Saurashtra batter Sitanshu Kotak is set to join the Indian team as their batting coach ahead of the upcoming white-ball series against England, starting in Kolkata on January 22. A report in ESPNcricinfo said the batters’ plummeting returns resulting in a 0-3 Test defeat to New Zealand at home and a 1-3 series loss in Australia were discussed in the BCCI review meeting on Saturday and as a result, Kotak has been brought on board to solve the issues in the batting department.
Kotak amassed 8,061 runs in 130 first-class matches in a 20-year domestic career for Saurashtra as a left-handed batter and went on to captain the side. After his playing career ended, Kotak has been working as the batting coach at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) since 2019 and has Level 3 coaching certification too.
He has also stepped in as the head coach of several India A tours and served as assistant coach to VVS Laxman when the latter helmed India’s white-ball bilateral engagements as head coach in the last few years. Kotak was also a stand-in coach for India’s T20I series against Ireland in 2023.
In 2019, Kotak also replaced Rahul Dravid as the head coach of India ‘A’ team after the latter was appointed NCA head of cricket.
Kotak, 52, will link up with the Indian team support staff featuring head coach Gautam Gambhir, with Abhishek Nayar and Ryan Ten Doeschate as assistant coaches, while Morne Morkel and T Dilip serve as bowling and fielding coaches respectively.
Kotak’s appointment comes at a time when the form slump of captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli constantly getting out to balls outside the off-stump and Shubman Gill having a patchy overseas record has meant having a designated batting coach is the need of the hour for the Indian team.
After the five-match T20I series against England, India will play three ODIs against the same opposition, followed by the Champions Trophy in Dubai next month. India are also scheduled to play A team tour of England before playing a five-match Test series in the country in June-July.
(With IANS Inputs)
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