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Sitanshu Kotak is serving as the current India A head coach.
Former cricketer Sitanshu Kotak
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is reportedly planning changes to the support staff of the India men’s cricket team after the disastrous performances against New Zeland at home and away to Australia.
As per a report in TOI, BCCI is looking to appoint Sitanshu Kotak, who is serving as the current India A head coach, as the Indian team’s batting coach.
“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.
Kotak, a former left-handed batter who captained Saurashtra, served as India A head coach during the Australia tour in November last year and the Jasprit Bumrah-led Indian T20I team’s tour of Ireland in August 2023.
He has 8061 runs to his name from n 130 first-class matches, at an average of 41.76, with 15 hundreds and 55 fifties between 1992-93 season to 2013.
After retiring from domestic cricket in 2013, he transitioned to full-time coaching, first with Saurashtra and later as a batting coach at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. For the past four years, he’s been appointed India A head coach, leading the team on tours to Bangladesh, South Africa, and Australia. He also served as the assistant coach of the defunct Gujarat Lions in IPL 2017.
India’s coaching staff at the moment consists head coach Gautam Gambhir along with the likes of Abhishek Nayar as assistant coach, Ryan ten Doeschate also as assistant coach, Morne Morkel as bowling coach and T Dilip as fielding coach.
Even though India doesn’t have a designated batting coach, Abhishek Nayar is primarily tasked with working with the batters.
India surrendered the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the first time in a decade following the 1-3 loss to Australia. The team was also knocked out of the World Test Championship final in June this year due to the defeat in the five-match series.
