VVS Laxman, current National Cricket Academy (NCA) chief, will act as India’s head coach for the upcoming tour of South Africa. With Gautam Gambhir heading to Australia to prepare for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, Laxman would take control of the ship for a couple of weeks. Gambhir will leave on November 10-11 with the Indian Test team, while the South Africa T20Is will be played from November 8 to 15.
India’s coaching staff for South Africa T20Is
According to Cricbuzz, other NCA staff members and coaches like Sairaj Bahutule, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, and Subhadeep Ghosh would accompany VVS Laxman to South Africa. Since the India vs South Africa T20I series was originally part of the Future Tours Programme (FTP), two different Indian teams along with different head coaches would travel to separate nations.
Bahutule had even travelled with the Indian team as their interim bowling coach to Sri Lanka in the absence of Morne Morkel and was the Indian team’s head coach in the ACC Men’s T20 Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2024. Kanitkar and Subhadeep were also part of the Zimbabwe tour with Bahutule and Emerging Asia Cup as the batting and fielding coaches.
Laxman’s working on the next crop of players
Just like Zimbabwe, there will be several new faces going to South Africa. Laxman will continue doing what he does at the NCA, developing future prospects, maximisation of talent, and keeping the bench strength strong. Ramandeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, and Yash Dayal are set to make their debuts. Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma, and Avesh Khan who are currently on the fringe of India’s T20I team will get some crucial game time..
Only Suryakumar Yadav, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya, and Arshdeep Singh are sure-shot starters. South Africa would be the perfect opportunity for Laxman to gauge where they are currently. For players like Sanju Samson, Ravi Bishnoi, and Abhishek Sharma, they’ll be golden opportunities to stamp their authority. To make sure they are picked even in the full-strength squad.
India’s T20I squad for South Africa series
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.
