It will be a reunion of sorts for the pair of Nair and ten Doeschate with Gambhir after they recently served as his assistant coaches during Kolkata Knight Riders’ victorious run to the IPL 2024 title.
Former India allrounder Abhishek Nayar and ex-Netherlands allrounder Ryan ten Doeschate are set to join the Sri Lanka-bound Indian cricket team as members of the support staff along with new head coach Gautam Gambhir.
It will be a reunion of sorts for the pair of Nair and ten Doeschate with Gambhir after they recently served as his assistant coaches during Kolkata Knight Riders’ victorious run to the IPL 2024 title.
Advertisement
It has been reliably learnt that former South African pacer Morne Morkel is in line to take over as the new bowling coach, although there are reports of former India and Karnataka pacer Vinay Kumar also a possible contender for the same.
Advertisement
Former India allrounder Abhishek Nayar and ex-Netherlands allrounder Ryan ten Doeschate are set to join the Sri Lanka-bound Indian cricket team as members of the support staff along with new head coach Gautam Gambhir.
It will be a reunion of sorts for the pair of Nair and ten Doeschate with Gambhir after they recently served as his assistant coaches during Kolkata Knight Riders’ victorious run to the IPL 2024 title.
It has been reliably learnt that former South African pacer Morne Morkel is in line to take over as the new bowling coach, although there are reports of former India and Karnataka pacer Vinay Kumar also a possible contender for the same.
While there remains some ambiguity regarding the new bowling coach, Morkel seems to be a front-runner, considering his close association with Gambhir in the past. The tall right-arm pacer had worked closely with Gambhir at Lucknow Super Giants and Durban Super Giants in the SA20, where Gambhir was the global mentor.
The new coaching set-up’s first assignment will be a white-ball tour of Sri Lanka, comprising three ODIs and three T20Is, which begins on July 27. According to board insiders, T Dilip, who was part of Rahul Dravid’s crew, has been retained as the fielding coach. Besides the fielding part, Dilip is believed to be very good at team bonding exercises, considered a major requirement for players.
The 40-year-old Nayar played three ODIs for India and won multiple Ranji Trophy titles with Mumbai in his first-class career, which spanned over 100 matches. Even when he was an active player, Nayar mentored Dinesh Karthik and helped him stage an international comeback.
More recently, mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy heaped praise on Nayar after KKR won their first IPL title in ten seasons. Nayar has also worked as the head coach of Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
As for ten Doeschate, he is currently with Los Angeles Knight Riders in the USA’s Major League Cricket as an assistant to head coach Phil Simmons. He also brings with him the experience of having been a batting coach at Kent.
Dilip and Nayar will, understandably, travel with the team on Monday but it isn’t still clear if the Dutchman joins the Indian team directly in Colombo. Similarly, there’s nothing concrete on Morkel’s plans. Prior to their departure, the BCCI is expected to formally unveil Gambhir as the new head coach and a media conference is planned for July 22 in Mumbai, with the newly appointed T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav in attendance.
While there remains some ambiguity regarding the new bowling coach, Morkel seems to be a front-runner, considering his close association with Gambhir in the past. The tall right-arm pacer had worked closely with Gambhir at Lucknow Super Giants and Durban Super Giants in the SA20, where Gambhir was the global mentor.
The new coaching set-up’s first assignment will be a white-ball tour of Sri Lanka, comprising three ODIs and three T20Is, which begins on July 27. According to board insiders, T Dilip, who was part of Rahul Dravid’s crew, has been retained as the fielding coach. Besides the fielding part, Dilip is believed to be very good at team bonding exercises, considered a major requirement for players.
The 40-year-old Nayar played three ODIs for India and won multiple Ranji Trophy titles with Mumbai in his first-class career, which spanned over 100 matches. Even when he was an active player, Nayar mentored Dinesh Karthik and helped him stage an international comeback.
More recently, mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy heaped praise on Nayar after KKR won their first IPL title in ten seasons. Nayar has also worked as the head coach of Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
As for ten Doeschate, he is currently with Los Angeles Knight Riders in the USA’s Major League Cricket as an assistant to head coach Phil Simmons. He also brings with him the experience of having been a batting coach at Kent.
Dilip and Nayar will, understandably, travel with the team on Monday but it isn’t still clear if the Dutchman joins the Indian team directly in Colombo. Similarly, there’s nothing concrete on Morkel’s plans. Prior to their departure, the BCCI is expected to formally unveil Gambhir as the new head coach and a media conference is planned for July 22 in Mumbai, with the newly appointed T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav in attendance.
Advertisement
