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VVS Laxman set to be India’s head coach in South Africa

INDIA TOUR OF SOUTH AFRICA, 2024

Laxman will be in charge of the team in South Africa. © Sportzpics

VVS Laxman will be the head coach for India’s short white ball tour of South Africa. He will step in as incumbent national coach, Gautam Gambhir, will be Australia-bound for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

The decision was confirmed to Cricbuzz by a top official of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday. The four-match series was not initially scheduled. It was recently arranged between the BCCI and Cricket South Africa (CSA).

India will play four Twenty20 Internationals in Durban, Gqeberha, Centurion and Johannesburg on November 8, 10, 13 and 15 respectively. The team will depart around November 3. The Indian team for the BGT leaves on November 10-11.

The staff and other coaches working at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru, like Sairaj Bahutule, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Subhadeep Ghosh, will be part of the coaching staff under Laxman. Bahutule (head coach), Kanitkar (batting coach) and Ghosh (fielding coach) were part of the India Emerging side that took part in the Asia Emerging Cup tournament in Oman. Sitanshu Kotak of Saurashtra and Mazhar Moidu of Kerala, both associated with the NCA, have accompanied the Ruturaj Gaikwad-led India A team to Australia.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced a 15-member squad, led by Suryakumar Yadav for the four T20Is on October 25 (Friday).

There has been some criticism for scheduling the tour of South Africa in the midst of India’s domestic season. “Next month, there’s a needless four-match T20 series in South Africa before the tour to Australia. There will also be an ‘A’ team touring Australia next month, so effectively about 50 to 60 players will not be available for their State teams in the premier national tournament, the Ranji Trophy,” former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar wrote in Sportstar.

One upside for the tour, coming as it does ahead of the IPL auction, the four matches could provide indication as to who will be hotly pursued by the franchises.

T20I squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Avesh Khan, Yash Dayal.

© Cricbuzz

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