VVS Laxman to replace Rahul Dravid as India Head Coach

After India got hammered in the 20-20 World Cup 2022 semi-final against England, team India Head Coach Rahul Dravid has decided to take some time off as VVS Laxman will be taking charge of the team for the New Zealand series. The designated coach, Rahul Dravid is expected to return in the series against Bangladesh but until then, his long-time friend will take care of the operation.

Laxman, who’s currently also the chairman of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) has experience coaching the senior squad on multiple occasions and has done tremendously well in the limited time he got. However, the situation this time will be quite different as few of the Indian boys will be coming after a disastrous time in Australia while other cricketers including Sanju Samson, Deepak Chahar, Umran Malik and Yuzvendra Chahal among others will be gearing up to prove to mettle in the big boys league. Thus, Laxman will have the pressure to balance both sides of the same coin.

Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Sairaj Bahutule too will travel to New Zealand

Apart from Laxman, batting coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar and bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule too will travel to New Zealand for India’s three-match ODI and T20I series, which is scheduled to begin on Friday, November 18. Not revealing his identity, a source close to the board informed him about this decision and it will be made public in the time to come.

“The NCA team headed by Laxman with Hrishikesh Kanitkar (batting) and Sairaj Bahutule (bowling) will join the New Zealand-bound squad,” the source said.

Meanwhile, the Indian team has already announced that Hardik Pandya will be leading the T20I side while Shikhar Dhawan will take over as the ODI captain. In the absence of many of the top cricketers, the second string of cricketers will be getting more opportunities to prove themselves and get into India’s primary squad in the near future.

ODI squad for New Zealand series: Shikhar Dhawan (C), Rishabh Pant (vc & wk), Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson (wk), W Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Shahbaz Ahmed, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Sen, Umran Malik.

T20I squad for New Zealand series: Hardik Pandya (c), Rishabh Pant (vc), Ishan Kishan, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik