Even though, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is yet to make an official announcement on the national team’s coaching staff, a few of the sources have confirmed that the former all-rounder of the national side, Abhishek Nayar and the former Netherlands all-rounder, Ryan Ten Doeschate are set to join the blue brigade in Sri Lanka.
From the previous coaching staff under the former head coach of the Indian team, Rahul Dravid, the fielding coach T. Dilip has retained his place under the newly appointed head coach Gautam Gambhir. Dilip has earned the reputation of not only being a skills fielding coach but also bringing a positive vibe to the team.
Some of the team bonding exercises have helped the players get into a highly competitive environment. Both Nayar and Ten Doeschate have been appointed as the assistant coaches of India, even though it remains to be seen who will be regarded as the new bowling coach of the team.
Abhishek Nayar to join India after session with Mumbai
It will be interesting to see if the former South Africa pacer Morne Morkel becomes the future bowling coach of the Indian team. All these three members have worked with Gambhir previously at the various stages of his coaching career in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
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Morkel, the former KKR teammate of the India left-handed opener, has worked with Gambhir during his IPL stint in the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) side. Both Nayar and Ryan were with him during his most successful coaching tenure with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the recent IPL season,
Dilip and Abhishek will travel with the Indian team on Monday, where Ten Doeschate will join them. The Dutch player is currently coaching with the Los Angeles Knight Riders (LAKR) in the Major League Cricket (MLC) in the United States of America. He is expected to join the blue brigade in Colombo soon, as the BCCI is having discussions among themselves for potentially appointing Morkel as the new bowling coach.
India will leave Mumbai at 1 pm on Monday, July 22, on a charter flight to Colombo. Before the departure of the team, the BCCI is expected to formally unveil Gambhir as their new head coach, besides arranging a media conference at the five-star hotel in Andheri, in the presence of the newly made T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav.
The BCCI secretary Jay Shah, who is already in Colombo to attend the Annual Conference of the International Cricket Council (ICC), could meet the players in Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, Abhishek Nayar had a brief stint with the Mumbai side, to prepare them for the upcoming domestic season. The session, which almost 30 to 35 players attended, was conducted to focus on the mental strength, mindset of the players, and other aspects of the game.
Mumbai has already left for Alur, Karnataka for their pre-season preparation, where Nayar was expected to travel, but couldn’t because of India commitments.
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It was a good opportunity for Mumbai players that Nayar agreed to offer to share expertise on various aspects of the game. It should stand the players in good stead in the coming season.’ The MCA secretary Ajinkya Naik told to Cricbuzz.
‘He was focusing on developing a mindset of growth and trying to teach them a few modern ways of practicing and implementation of technique.’ A team member who was part of the camp observed.
The first of the three-match T20I series between India and Sri Lanka will begin on July 27, at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.