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Team India is all set to tour New Zealand to play
the white-ball series, starting from November 18 in Wellington. Hardik
Pandya-led squad will kick start the bilateral contest with three-match T20Is
series followed by Shikhar Dhawan & Co. taking on New Zealand in as many One Day Internationals (ODIs).
In the absence of senior pros and head coach, a
relatively younger squad under the guidance of VVS Laxman has been named for
the tour including the likes of Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Sairaj Bahutule as
batting and bowling coaches for the tour.
Meanwhile, fresh reports have claimed
that Munish Bali has also joined the group as a fielding coach. Notably, all
the above-mentioned coaches are based at the National Cricket Academy which is
headed by VVS Laxman.
Notably, Munish Bali was also part of the Indian
support staff that travelled to Ireland. He also spent a brief time with the squad in England,
earlier this year. He was also part of the squad during the home series against
South Africa.
The Hindustan Times report quoted a BCCI official stating that
BCCI wants to give adequate rest to Rahul Dravid and his men after a hectic World
Cup campaign before they tour Bangladesh with a full-strength squad for
two-Test matches.
India’s T20 World Cup campaign ended on a
disappointing note as England stunned the World number 1 team in the
semi-final match at Adelaide Oval on November 10 (Thursday). Rohit Sharma &
Co. failed miserably on the day as they lost the game by ten wickets.
Earlier,
Team India had a terrific league stage as they won all their league matches barring South Africa. Indian players like Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, R Ashwin and Dinesh Karthik are facing a lot of criticism from all quarters for putting on a
poor show in the ICC tournament.
Several retired cricketers have raised questions
about the BCCI and its team selection suggesting a complete overhaul of the
management and coaching staff. Former Indian skipper Kapil Dev has even
admitted that it won’t be wrong to use the terms like ‘chokers’ for Indian
players as they often succumbed to pressure in the knock-out stage.
Meanwhile,
batting legend Sunil Gavaskar claimed that a couple of T20I retirements are on the card following yet another shocking exit from the ICC tournament.
