Kolkata (West Bengal): A lot of news is emerging from various quarters about the support staff after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) appointed Gautam Gambhir, replacing Rahul Dravid, as the head coach of the Indian cricket team. The interests hover around the batting, bowling and fielding coaches' positions after Vikram Rathour, Paras Mhambrey and T Dilip have expired their contracts with the BCCI.
However, there may be subtle changes in the support staff structure this time with the advent of the former India opener Gambhir as the head coach. The BCCI, on advice from newly-appointed coach Gambhir, is likely to do away with the position of 'Batting Coach'. Instead, the position is likely to be named as 'Assistant Coach'. The frontrunner for the position is none other than former India and Mumbai all-rounder Abhishek Nayar. In that case, Gambhir himself will look after the team's batting.
A few names are in the fray for the bowling coach's position. Besides former India seamers Lakshmipathy Balaji and R Vinay Kumar, Zaheer Khan's name is also doing the rounds. Grapevine says Gambhir has also recommended former South African pacer Morne Morkel for the bowling coach's position, but it is still unclear whether BCCI has acted on the recommendation. Morne Morkel was the bowling coach of Indian Premier League franchise Lucknow Super Giants when Gambhir was the mentor.
"There are many names that are doing the rounds for all the support staff positions, but nothing has been finalised on the BCCI's part as of now. Let's see, how things pan out in the next few days and then we can make the final decision," a top BCCI official told ETV Bharat on Friday.
It is learned that the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) comprising — Ashok Malhotra, Jatin Paranjpe and Sulakshana Naik — had so far conducted two interviews of Gautam Gambhir and former India all-rounder WV Raman for the head coach's post, in which Gambhir was preferred after the presentations. But no interviews have taken place for filling up the support staff positions. "There may be no further interviews for the support staff as those positions could be directly filled up by the BCCI," the official further said.
It may be recalled that Rahul Dravid was directly chosen as the head coach of the Indian team in 2021 by then BCCI president and Dravid's contemporary Sourav Ganguly.
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