MUMBAI: In what could be termed as the first major casualty since India's Test debacle at home (0-3 loss against New Zealand) and away (1-3 defeat against hosts Australia), the Indian cricket board (BCCI) has terminated the contract of assistant coach Abhishek Nayar. The former Mumbai all-rounder took up the role only in July last year along with head coach Gautam Gambhir.
The decision was taken following an extensive review meeting conducted by the BCCI to assess India's poor Test form. The meeting was carried out in coordination with Gambhir, chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar and BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia.
With Nayar considered close to both head coach Gambhir and India Test and ODI captain Rohit Sharma, his removal signals a bigger overhaul in the team going forward.
Besides Nayar, who had played three ODIs and worked with Gambhir at the Kolkata Knight Riders for the IPL 2024, fielding coach T Dilip's contract has also not been extended. Dilip was appointed for the role when Rahul Dravid was the head coach but his contract was extended only till March 2025.
Nayar was handpicked by Gambhir although the former had no previous experience of coaching a domestic side. He, however, imparted individual coaching sessions to several international and domestic players including Rohit, Dinesh Karthik, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer and Angkrish Raghuvanshi. Recently, India batter KL Rahul also credited Nayar for his new-found success in the limited-overs format.
Speculations regarding his future started doing the rounds since former Saurashtra batter Sitanshu Kotak was appointed as the batting coach ahead of the white-ball home series against England early this year. The duo along with assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate and fielding coach Dilip had travelled to the Champions Trophy as part of Gambhir's support staff. India eventually won the tournament for the third time since 2013.
Le Roux's returns
Meanwhile, the strength and conditioning coach Soham Desai, who was with the team since Dravid's regime, will also be replaced by South African Adrian Le Roux. It is learnt that Desai's contract like Dilip was also till March 2025. Le Roux had a previous stint with the team in early 2000s when former New Zealand captain John Wright was the coach. He had then joined the South African men's team. He was also with the KKR franchise from 2008 to 2019 and is currently with the Punjab Kings.
The BCCI has not officially announced the departure of the trio but sources say the decisions on their future has been communicated. It is highly unlikely that the BCCI will have a replacement for Nayar as Kotak's appointment has anyway served the purpose. India's next big assignment is a five-match away Test series against England.