India’s head coach, Rahul Dravid will be taking a break for a few days and VVS Laxman will be performing the coaching responsibilities during the upcoming New Zealand tour. Rahul’s support staff members Vikram Rathour, the batting coach, and Paras Mhambrey, the bowling coach, to have been rested and Laxman will have the former leg spinner Sairaj Bahutule and Hrishikesh Kanitkar as his deputies.

The decision has got nothing to do with India’s abrupt exit from the T20 World Cup 2022 after a demoralizing 10-wicket loss against England in the semifinal in Adelaide on Thursday. Laxman is the chief of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. It’s not the first time Laxman will be traveling as a coach with the Indian team.

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VVS Laxman was on duty during India’s tour of Ireland, followed by one T20 game against England. With the Indian team playing back-to-back series. Laxman also traveled with the team to Zimbabwe. In New Zealand, Hardik Pandya has been appointed as the captain for the T20Is while Shikhar Dhawan will be leading the ODI squad with Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and KL Rahul, along with a few others, rested for the tour. Pandya had led India for the Ireland T20Is in June as well.

Pacers Kuldeep Sen (Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan Royals) has received his maiden call-up, for the New Zealand and Bangladesh ODIs, respectively. Both were part of the India ‘A’ side for New Zealand ‘A’ series recently. Also, Umran Malik, India’s fastest bowler, who had played three T20Is in Ireland and England, is back for the New Zealand tour. 

Indian Squads

T20Is: Hardik Pandya (C), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (VC and WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Mohd. Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umran Malik

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ODIs: Shikhar Dhawan (C), Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (VC and WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Shahbaz Ahmed, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Sen, Umran Malik