VVS Laxman and Hrishikesh Kanitkar will go to the 2023 Asian Games, which will be held in Hangzhou, China, as the men’s and women’s teams’ head coaches, respectively. For the first time ever, the men’s Indian cricket team will compete in this event.
At the quarterfinal stage of the competition, both teams will take part. According to the most recent schedule, the India men’s quarterfinal match is on October 3, and if they advance, the semifinals are anticipated to be on October 5. The conclusion is set for October 7.
On September 21, the women’s team quarterfinal is set, followed by a likely semi-final on September 23 and a conclusion on September 25. The matches will take place at the cricket pitch at Zhejiang University of Technology (ZJUT).
Sairaj Bahutule will be the bowling coach for the men, while Munish Bali will be their fielding coach. For the women’s team, Rajib Dutta will be the bowling coach, and Subhadeep Ghosh the fielding coach.
Smriti Mandhana To Lead India Women’s Team; Ruturaj Gaikwad To Captain India Men’s Team
Rahul Dravid has previously been replaced as the Indian team’s head coach on men’s trips by Laxman. The Men in Blue team, captained by Ruturaj Gaikwad, will be a reserve squad that includes IPL stars like Rinku Singh, Arshdeep Singh, and Shivam Dube.
Kanitkar managed the women’s squad for the home T20I series against Australia in December of last year, the tri-series in South Africa, the T20 World Cup, and earlier this year.
The women’s team has been without a stable head coach since Romesh Powar was moved to the NCA in December of last year. For their final task, a white-ball trip to Bangladesh, the team selected former Indian spinner Nooshin Al Khadeer to serve as interim coach.
Smriti Mandhana will captain the Indian women’s team which will be at full strength. Regular captain Harmanpreet Kaur had copped a two-match ban for her outburst against Bangladesh recently and will not be playing in the first two matches in the Asian Games.
If India do make it to the semi-finals, Harmanpreet Kaur will take over as captain.