The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) remains in the hunt for new support staff after appointing Gautam Gambhir as the senior men’s team’s new head coach. Gambhir himself has also been quite keen to wrap up the search for his coaching staff soon, though his suggestions for different roles in the team haven’t reportedly been well received by the board. Gambhir had suggested the names of R Vinay Kumar, Morne Morkel, Abhishek Nayar, Ryan Ten Doeschate, Jonty Rhodes, and Laxmipathy Balaji for different roles, but the board seems to be in agreement on only one of these players.
As per a report in the Economic Times, the BCCI has rejected all of Gambhir’s suggestions, barring Abhishek Nayar, who works as Kolkata Knight Riders’ assistant coach at present. Though no formal announcement has taken place, the BCCI is reportedly in agreement with Gambhir’s request to add him as coaching staff.
But, the bowling and fielding coach’s spots remain wide open, with the board not keen to appoint Morkel, Vinay Kumar Balaji, Rhodes, or Ten Doeschate to these roles. In the past, the BCCI has given a free hand to Ravi Shastri and Rahul Dravid to select their coaching staff. But, the same doesn’t seem to be true for Gambhir.
The BCCI reportedly wants Zaheer Khan as the next bowling coach of the Indian team. Zaheer, one of the finest pacers to have played the game, picked up 311 Test wickets in 92 matches and overall 610 scalps in 309 international matches across all formats for India. He is considered one of the greatest left-arm pacers to have played the sport.
Balaji’s name was reportedly also discussed. He represented Team India in eight Test matches where he has managed to snap 27 wickets at an average of 37.18. On the other hand, he bagged 34 wickets in 30 ODIs at an average of 39.52.
The term of Paras Mahambrey, who was the bowling coach of team India when Rahul Dravid was the head coach, has come to an end. As for the fielding coach, it has also been reported that T Dilip’s tenure could be extended.
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