Not Gautam Gambhir, Indian team set to have new coach for South African tour: Reports

Team India is set to travel to South Africa for a four-match T20I series that is set to begin on 8th November. According to early reports by CRICBUZZ, VVS Laxman is set to coach the side for the series. Suryakumar Yadav has already been named the captain of the side. The team also has two new entrants Vijaykumar Vyshak and Ramandeep Singh. 

Former India star Sairaj Bahutule will be the bowling coach, with Hrishikesh Kanitkar acting as the batting coach. T. Dilip will be replaced by Subhadeep Ghosh as the fielding coach for the massive series. Gautam Gambhir will be heading to Australia to prepare India’s Test team for the huge tour of Australia starting on 22nd November. 

Gautam Gambhir has been under fire post the Test series loss at home to New Zealand. But the Indian coach has found backing from the experts who have asked the fans to show patience. India now needs to win 4 out of 6 matches to entertain hopes of making it to the finals of the World Test Championships. 

Ravi Shastri backs Gautam Gambhir to come good 

Former Indian coach Ravi Shastri has backed current coach Gautam Gambhir to come good. Shastri supported Gambhir publicly while he was doing commentary during the India versus New Zealand match in Pune. The veteran commentator asked the fans to show more patience since Gambhir had just taken up the job. 

Shastri said “New Zealand have beaten India handsomely in both the Test matches. It's food for thought. Gambhir has just taken over the job. It's never easy being the coach of a team that has such a big following. It's still early days in his career as a coach. But he'll soon learn," 

India’s new coach had got into motion after the loss in Pune. Each and every member of the team has been practicing in Mumbai and haven’t been given days off. It is expected that teams will be doing double training sessions. Rohit Sharma and the rest of the players are also expected to sweat it out during Diwali on Thursday. 

The final Test match in Mumbai holds special significance for India. They have to win the game to not only avoid a whitewash at home but also to get back in the WTC finals race. At one stage it looked smooth sailing for India but the series loss to New Zealand has thrown a huge spanner in their works.