Jasprit Bumrah-led India Cricket Team will be without any head coach in IND vs IRE T20 series. While VVS Laxman was supposed to be the head coach on the tour, he will skip the series. The regular head coach Rahul Dravid and his coaching staff will take a break after IND vs WI series ahead of Asia Cup 2023. India vs Ireland series begins on August 18.
It has been a norm for some years that if the head coach is on a break, the head of NCA fills in as the head coach. Rahul Dravid did it as the NCA head and Ravi Shastri was the coach.
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Instead, as per a Cricbuzz report, Sitanshu Kotak and Sairaj Bahutule will accompany Jasprit Bumrah & Co for the three-match IND vs IRE series in Dublin. Kotak and Bahutule have acted as support staff to VVS Laxman on New Zealand and Ireland tours earlier.
However, it is still unknown why Laxman will not accompany the team in Ireland. As for Rahul Dravid & Co, they will assemble at the NCA on August 24 after a week-long break. Team India stars will have an Asia Cup camp at the NCA between Aug 24 and 29. The team leaves for Sri Lanka on August 30.
Squad to leave in separate batches
Meanwhile, Team India will travel in two separate batches for IND vs IRE series. One batch will leave for Ireland on Tuesday from Mumbai. The first batch will include captain Jasprit Bumrah and those who are not part of the IND vs WI squad.
The next batch will fly directly to Ireland’s capital Dublin from Florida. The second batch will include Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma and Yashasvi Jaiswal among others who are part of the squad that will play the last two T20s against West Indies in Florida.
India squad for Ireland series: Jasprit Bumrah (C), Ruturaj Gaikwad (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (wk), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan
IND vs IRE T20 Series Schedule
| Date | Match | Venue | Time |
| Aug-18 | 1st T20I | Malahide, Dublin | 7:30 PM IST |
| Aug-20 | 2nd T20I | Malahide, Dublin | 7:30 PM IST |
| Aug-23 | 3RD T20I | Malahide, Dublin | 7:30 PM IST |
