The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are all set to appoint Abhishek Nayar and Ryan Ten Doeschate as assistant coaches of the Indian cricket team, according to a report by Cricbuzz. While no official statement has been issued by the team management, the report claims that both Nayar and Ten Doeschate will join new head coach Gautam Gambhir for the upcoming T20I and ODI series against Sri Lanka. Nayar was the assistant coach for Kolkata Knight Riders while the former Dutch international also served as KKR’s fielding coach when Gambhir served as mentor. T Dilip, who served as fielding coach under Rahul Dravid, is reportedly going to be retained in the new support staff as well.
However, questions still remain over the appointment of the bowling coach but former South Africa cricket team fast bowler Morne Morkel is being considered a strong candidate for the position.
Morkel has also worked with Gambhir as part of the Kolkata Knight Riders team. Morkel played for the franchise between 2014 and 2016 under Gambhir's captaincy and even won the title in 2014.
The report stated that Dilip and Nayar will travel with the team to Sri Lanka but it remains unclear when Ten Doeschate will join the side. He is currently working as part of the coaching staff for the LA Knight Riders in the ongoing Major League Cricket (MLC). The Board is currently in conversation with Morkel about the bowling coach job but nothing concrete has come out of the discussions yet.
Here are the India squads for Sri Lanka tour –
T20I Squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohd. Siraj.
ODI Squad:Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana.