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The Indian team is currently in Zimbabwe for a five-match T20I series, which will be played from July 6 to July 14. All matches will be played at the Harare Sports Club. The tournament of Zimbabwe is India's first assignment since winning the 2024 T20 World Cup in the West Indies and United States.
The ICC event marked the conclusion of Rahul Dravid's tenure as head coach of the senior men's Indian cricket team. With his replacement yet to be appointed, former India batter and National Cricket Academy (NCA) head VVS Laxman was named coach for the ongoing T20I series in Zimbabwe.
In an interaction with news agency PTI earlier this month, BCCI secretary Jay Shah confirmed the development and stated that India will have a new head coach from the Sri Lanka series.
"Both coach and selector appointment will be made shortly. CAC has interviewed and shortlisted two names and after reaching Mumbai whatever they have decided we will go by that. VVS Laxman is going to Zimbabwe but new coach will join from Sri Lanka series," Shah told PTI.
Laxman has chipped in as coach earlier as well when Dravid has been unavailable. He was also the head coach of the men's cricket team that won gold at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou.
Laxman not in the running to take over as full-time coach; Gambhir front runner: Reports
As per some media reports, Laxman has not expressed any interest in taking over as full-time coach of the Indian men's cricket team. Former India opener and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) mentor Gautam Gambhir is reportedly the front-runner to take over the head coach's role.
In a recent interaction with news agency ANI, BCCI president Roger Binny praised the World Cup-winning former cricketer and commented:
"Gautam Gambhir has got a lot of experience and if he takes the job it's definitely going to be a good thing for Indian cricket. He is experienced that's what India needs. India needs a coach who played the game, and he has played in all three formats of the game."
Gambhir was the mentor of the KKR team that won IPL 2024. He was also the captain when the franchise won the T20 league in 2012 and 2014. As a batter, the left-hander represented Team India in 242 matches across the three formats of the game, scoring 10324 runs, with 20 hundreds and 63 fifties.
