The former Saurashtra batter and the assistant coach of India, Sitanshu Kotak, is set to become the new batting coach of the national side, as recent reports have claimed. The 52-year-old left-handed batter will start his journey with the upcoming five-match T20I series against England, which starts on January 22.
Kotak retired from first-class cricket in 2013 after smashing 8061 runs in 211 innings at an average of 41.76 with the help of 15 centuries and 55 half-centuries at the best score of unbeaten 168 runs. It’s a career that started in the 1992/93 season of the Ranji Trophy and ended in Rajkot against Rajasthan in October 2013.
He has been the batting coach at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) since 2019 and was also the head coach for India A in several tours previously and served the role of an assistant coach when VVS Laxman used to handle the responsibility of the side in the absence of the regular head coach in the white-ball bilateral engagements in Ireland or Zimbabwe in the last few years.
Sitanshu Kotak was appointed India’s new batting coach for the T20I series vs England
Kotak will be the fifth assistant on the coaching staff, which is led by the current head coach, Gautam Gambhir, when he took charge of India last August with the six white-ball encounters in Sri Lanka. At the time, Gambhir brought in three assistant coaches, the former pacer of South Africa, Morne Morkel as the bowling coach, the former all-rounder of Mumbai and India, Abhishek Nayar, and the former Netherlands and Essex captain Ryan Ten Doeschate. T Dilip has been the fielding coach of the side since the tenure of Rahul Dravid.
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The development has come after the recent review meeting in Mumbai last weekend by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) where they assessed the disastrous series of defeats, starting with the white-ball loss in Sri Lanka. They started the home season with five back-to-back victories against Bangladesh in two Tests and three T20Is.
But the Rohit Sharma-led side was whitewashed at home in a three-match Test series for the very first time against New Zealand before they lost the recent Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-24 down under by a 3-1 margin for the very first time since the 2014/15 season. Those six defeats in the last eight Tests have disqualified India from the chance of getting into the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 for the very first time in the event’s history.
“Yes, Kotak’s name is being seriously discussed for the role of India’s batting coach, and it will start with the Champions Trophy in February. The BCCI is likely to make an official announcement in this regard.” The reliable source of the national side has been expressed as quoted by the Times of India.
“Most of our batsmen [batters], including the seniors, have struggled badly in the last two series. There’s a need to strengthen the support staff of the Indian men’s cricket team from the batting point of view.” The recent reports addressed.
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The batting has struggled the most in the recent few series. Their regular captain, Rohit Sharma, could manage only 31 runs in five innings at an average of 6.20 with the best of ten before opting out of the fifth and final Test of the series at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). Virat Kohli finished the trip with 190 runs in nine innings at an average of below 24.
The fate of India’s head coach will be reviewed after the Champions Trophy 2025, scheduled to begin on February 19.