Gautam Gambhir not finalized as Jay Shah reveals new India head coach's joining date

As Rahul Dravid’s tenure as head coach ended with India’s ICC T20 World Cup 2024 triumph on Caribbean soil, all eyes were on the announcement of the appointment of a new head coach for the Indian cricket team.

The young Indian brigade led by Shubman Gill is all set to travel to Zimbabwe earlier this month to play a five-match T20I series, starting on July 6 in Harare. However, the second-string Indian cricket team will be without a permanent coach on the upcoming Zimbabwe tour.

Jay Shah confirms VVS Laxman will accompany Team India on the Zimbabwe tour

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary Jay Shah confirmed that National Cricket Academy (NCA) head VVS Laxman will serve as interim coach for Team India on their upcoming Zimbabwe tour. Shah also made some crucial revelations about the next Indian head coach for the first time officially.

As the BCCI is gearing up to announce the appointment of a new head coach for the Indian cricket team, Shah revealed that Dravid’s successor will join the team ahead of their upcoming limited-overs series in Sri Lanka later this month.

Speculation is rife that former India opener Gautam Gambhir is likely to succeed Dravid, and the BCCI Secretary confirmed that the new head coach will be announced before India’s limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka. Shah said that the new coach will join Team India on the Sri Lanka tour.

The BCCI Secretary also revealed that the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) has conducted interviews and shortlisted two candidates for the high-profile job. However, Shah didn’t reveal the names of the shortlisted candidates to take over as Team India’s head coach.

New coach will join Indian cricket team from Sri Lanka tour: Jay Shah

However, the reports suggested that among the candidates shortlisted are Gambhir and WV Raman, a former coach of the Indian women's team. Well, the BCCI will announce the new head coach ahead of the Sri Lanka tour, comprising three T20Is and three ODIs to be kicked off on July 27.

Jay Shah was quoted as saying by PTI: “Both coach and selector appointments 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 a new coach will join from the Sri Lanka series.”

The BCCI Secretary also reacted to Indian skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s contribution to India’s T20 World Cup 2024 triumph and their retirement from T20I cricket.

Experience makes a lot of difference: Jay Shah hails Rohit Sharma-Virat Kohli

He was happy that Rohit didn’t let him down and won the trophy in Barbados, since it was his promise to Indian fans made in public after India’s ODI World Cup 2023 loss to Australia in Ahmedabad.

Shah signed off by saying, “We won all games except the final in 2023 as Australia played better. This time we worked even harder and played better to win the title. If you look at other teams, experience counts.

From Rohit to Virat, all excelled. Experience makes a lot of difference; in World Cups, you can't experiment much also. A good player knows when to say goodbye to the game, we saw that yesterday. You look at Rohit's strike rate, it is better than a lot of young players.”