Gautam Gambhir May Also Keep Batting Coach's Role; Abhishek Nayar To Be His Deputy: Report

The newly-appointed India head coach Gautam Gambhir is likely to double up as the batting coach of the team while former India cricketer Abhishek Nayar is set to join the support staff as the assistant coach, media reports stated. (More Cricket News)

Nayar has been associated with the Kolkata Knight Riders for some time now and was praised for nurturing young talents after the franchise lifted Indian Premier League trophy earlier this year.

Gambhir returned to KKR as mentor ahead of the 2024 edition and guided the team to their first trophy since 2014, when the left-hander had led the Kolkata-franchise to their second IPL title. Under Gambhir's leadership, KKR won their first two IPL trophies in 2012 and 2014.

Before joining KKR, Gambhir had been associated with Lucknow Super Giants for the 2022 and 2023 IPL seasons. The newly-formed franchise got into the Play-Offs in both the years.

As per a Cricbuzz report, it is almost confirmed that Gambhir has chosen Nayar as the part of his support staff even as considerations are going on for other positions.

Nayar who played three ODIs for India, will be the assistant coach while Gambhir may reportedly double up as the batting coach.

Alongside Rahul Dravid, the tenures of batting coach Vikram Rathour, bowling coach Paras Mhambrey and fielding coach T Dilip ended after India's triumph at the T20 World Cup held in the USA and the West Indies. 

Cricbuzz report states that T Dilip might be retained as the fielding coach.

For the bowling coach's role, names of former India pacers R Vinay Kumar and L Balaji, both of whom have worked with Gambhir at KKR, have been doing rounds. However, nothing has been finalised.

After being an open secret for the past few weeks, BCCI on Tuesday officially announced Gambhir to be the next coach for the men's team.