Former India player VVS Laxman will be the head coach for India's upcoming white-ball tour of South Africa. He will come in place of Gautam Gambhir, who will be in Australia for the all-important Border-Gavaskar Trophy. However, the decision was confirmed to Cricbuzz by a top official of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday as well.
The series was not initially scheduled to be played. It was recently arranged between the BCCI and Cricket South Africa (CSA) as well. However, India will play four T20 Internationals in Durban, Gqeberha, Centurion and Johannesburg on November 8, 10, 13 and 15 respectively as well. The team will leave for the series around November 4 whereas the Indian team will leave for Australia on November 10-11.
Sairaj Bahutule, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Subhadeep Ghosh will be part of the coaching staff
Meanwhile, the staff and other coaches working at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru - Sairaj Bahutule, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Subhadeep Ghosh will be part of the coaching staff with VVS Laxman. However, Bahutule (head coach), Kanitkar (batting coach) and Ghosh (fielding coach) were part of the India Emerging side that took part in the Asia Emerging Cup tournament in Oman as well. Sitanshu Kotak of Saurashtra and Mazhar Moidu of Kerala also accompanied the Ruturaj Gaikwad-led India A team to Australia as well.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced a 15-member squad, led by star India batter Suryakumar Yadav for the four T20Is on October 25 (Friday) as well.
Suryakumar Yadav to lead the Indian team vs South Africa
"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," former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar wrote in Sportstar.
Meanwhile, the four matches could indicate who will be pursued by the IPL franchises as the mega auction for the upcoming IPL is around the corner.
T20I squad: 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.
