BCCI Displeased With ‘KKR Influence’ In Gautam Gambhir’s Team India Support Staff
The roles of Team India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate and Abhishek Nayar are being scrutinized as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is dissatisfied with the perceived ‘Kolkata Knight Riders influence’ within the team management, as per a source from the BCCI. Former Indian all-rounder Abhishek Nayar and ex-Netherlands star Ryan Ten Doeschate became part of Team India’s support staff as assistant coaches for the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka.
Nayar and Doeschate served as assistant coaches at KKR and collaborated with Gambhir. With Gambhir’s guidance, the Kolkata team triumphed in the 2024 Indian Premier League, defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets.
As per a recent report by ESPNcricinfo, BCCI is preparing to enforce more rigorous protocols on Team India’s tours. The report mentioned that BCCI will restrict players’ time with their families during tours. The athletes will likewise be prohibited from using their own transportation to travel during training and games.
In the meantime, Team India faced a disappointing 3-1 loss against Australia in the recently finished Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 and missed the chance to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) Final at Lord’s.
Captain Rohit Sharma and key player Virat Kohli faced criticism for a lackluster Border-Gavaskar Trophy performance and a generally disappointing 2024/25 Test cricket season. Sharma (31 runs across three matches and five innings at an average of 6.20) and Virat Kohli (190 runs in five matches and nine innings at an average of 23.75 featuring a century) struggled significantly with their batting. Virat fell into the outside-off-stump trap consistently during the series, particularly by pacer Scott Boland, who took his wicket four times.
The ‘Ro-Ko’ duo (Rohit and Kohli) has had a dreadful 2024-25 season in Tests. Rohit managed only 164 runs in eight matches and 15 innings, averaging 10.93 with a top score of 52, while Virat amassed a disappointing 382 runs in 10 matches and 19 innings, averaging 22.87, with merely one century and one fifty.
