VVS Laxman to be India's head coach next month; Suryakumar Yadav-led team's support staff for South Africa T20I series revealed

National Cricket Academy (NCA), Bengaluru head VVS Laxman will be the head coach of India mens’s cricket team for four-T20I series in South Africa next month. Laxman will travel with Suryakumar Yadav-led side as head coach Gautam Gambhir will be busy preparing with the team for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 in Australia. 

The support staff includes bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule, India men's Under-19 coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar and fielding coach Subhadeep Ghosh. In the recently-concluded ACC Emerging T20 Asia Cup 2024, Bahutule was head coach, Ghosh was fielding coach whereas Kanitkar was batting coach. 

This is not the first time Laxman has travelled with a second-string side as their head coach. Before Gambhir was appointed as head coach, Laxman travelled with Shubman Gill-led side to Zimbabwe for five-T20I series. 

The T20I series will begin on November 8 at Kingsmead, Durban. The T20I series will conclude on November 15 at The Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg. The last time the two sides went up against each other was in T20 World Cup 2024 final.

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Last week, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced a 15-man squad for the T20I series. Ramandeep Singh and Vijaykumar Vyshak received maiden call-ups. Ramandeep was part of India’s Emerging Asia Cup squad. 

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Gavaskar questions the need for South Africa series

Meanwhile, legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has questioned the scheduling. He went on to call out the BCCI for not giving enough importance to its premier domestic competition Ranji Trophy. 

"Next month, there’s a needless four-match T20 series in South Africa before the tour to Australia. There will also be an ‘A’ team touring Australia next month, so effectively about 50 to 60 players will not be available for their State teams in the premier national tournament, the Ranji Trophy. No other major country treats its national tournament as cavalierly as India does," Gavaskar wrote in his column on Sportstar.

India’s T20I squad against South Africa

Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Avesh Khan, Yash Dayal.