Mumbai: The fallout of India’s Test series defeats against New Zealand at home and Australia away could begin soon, starting with the strengthening of the team’s support staff. TOI has learnt that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is seriously exploring the possibility of appointing former domestic stalwart Sitanshu Kotak, currently the India A head coach, as Team India’s batting coach.

Kotak was the India A head coach during the tour of Australia in November last year, and the head coach of the Jasprit Bumrah-captained Indian team which toured Ireland for a T20I series in August 2023.
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The 52-year-old former left-hander, who captained Saurashtra, was a colossus in domestic cricket (he played from the 1992-93 season to 2013), having scored 8061 runs in 130 first-class matches at an average of 41.76, with 15 hundreds and 55 fifties.

Post retirement, the seasoned cricketer has entered full-time coaching and after coaching Saurashtra, became a batting coach at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. For the last four years, he has been regularly appointed by the BCCI as the India A head coach, as the side went on tours to Bangladesh, South Africa and Australia. He was also the assistant coach of the now defunct Gujarat Lions in IPL 2017.
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“Yes, Kotak’s name is being seriously discussed for the role of India’s batting coach, and it will start with the Champions Trophy in February. The BCCI is likely to make an official announcement in this regard. Most of our batsmen [batters], including the seniors, have struggled badly in the last two series. There’s clearly a need to strengthen the support staff of the Indian men’s cricket team from the batting point of view,” a reliable source in the BCCI told TOI on Thursday.

Currently, India’s coaching staff, consisting of Morne Morkel (bowling coach), Abhishek Nayar (assistant coach), Ryan ten Doeschate (assistant coach) and T Dilip (fielding coach), besides the head coach Gautam Gambhir, doesn’t have a batting coach, though Nayar’s role is focused on working with the batters. The BCCI feels there’s a need for a specialist in the batting department.
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After India were blanked 3-0 at home by New Zealand and lost 3-1 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, the role of the support staff of the team has come under heavy scrutiny, particularly with players like Virat Kohli, skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill failing to shrug off their poor form.
The role of support staff was discussed in the review meeting in Mumbai on January 11.