India's bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule.
India's bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule. Image Credit: X

India’s former leg-spinner, Sairaj Bahutule, has stepped down from the Centre of Excellence role of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in Bengaluru during the fourth T20I between the home side and England at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. He took his name out of the role due to the personal reasons.

Bahutule featured in two Tests for the national side to collect 39 runs at an average of 13 and the best score of unbeaten 23 runs. However, he was a huge contributor in the domestic games for Mumbai, Andhra, Vidarbha, and Assam. In 188 first-class games, the left-handed batter smacked 6176 runs in 242 innings at an average of 31.83, shouldering on nine centuries and 26 half-centuries with the help of 134* as his best score.

With the ball, the veteran picked up 630 wickets at an average of 26 and a strike rate of nearly ten overs. The leg-spinner enjoyed 27 five-wicket hauls at the best bowling figure of 8/71 in an inning. Even in the List-A format, the spinner picked up 197 wickets at an average of 26.17. He was the bowling coach at the Centre of Excellence since November 2021, and January 31 (Friday) was his last day at work.

Sairaj Bahutule steps down from India’s Center of Excellence role

The 51-year-old served as the bowling coach at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru for the last three years and was also a member of the national side in the same position during the head coaching period of Rahul Dravid and the NCA head, VVS Laxman.

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“Yes, I have quit the COE due to personal/family reasons. I am thankful to former BCCI secretary Jay Shah, BCCI, Rahul Dravid (previous head of COE), and VVS (current head of COE) for allowing me to work with India’s top spinners across formats.” Sairaj Bahutule expressed this during a recent interaction with the Times of India in Bengaluru.

“I was with the India/India A and India Under-19 teams in at least 20 series/tours. I thoroughly enjoyed my three-year tenure at the NCA/COE, and my services as a bowling coach will forever be available for the BCCI.” India’s former bowling coach addressed.

Bahutule was India’s bowling coach for their T20I series tour of South Africa in November last year when Gautam Gambhir and Morne Morel were absent due to their Test commitment in the five-match series in Australia during the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25. The veteran was also the Blue Brigade’s bowling coach in the previous two Under-19 World Cups.

In 2024, Sairaj was the head coach of India’s Emerging side that took part in the Asia Emerging Cup tournament in Oman recently. He went to Sri Lanka as their bowling coach for the three ODIs and three T20Is, which was the first assignment for Gambhir as the national head coach and Suryakumar Yadav as the T20I captain.

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The former spinner always focuses on grassroots development, providing valuable guidance and support to so many young players at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence.

Meanwhile, India sealed their ongoing T20I series against the Jos Buttler-led side with an unbeaten lead of 3-1 margin, going into the fifth encounter at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Their performance with the ball was incredible as they defended an average-looking score of 181.

The home side struggled with three down in the first two overs, but the fifties from Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya pushed them to over 180 in their allotted 20 overs.