According to a report, Sitanshu Kotak was recruited to the Indian team’s support staff as an additional batting coach, meaning that Abhishek Nayar’s dismissal was imminent.
In the aftermath of India’s defeat to Australia in the Border Gavaskar Trophy on Wednesday, there were rumors that Abhishek Nayar, the assistant coach for the squad captained by Rohit Sharma, had been fired after just eight months on the job. Fielding coach T Dilip and trainer Soham Desai would both leave their positions. The news agency PTI provided an intriguing detail, despite the majority of reports claiming that Nayar was being fired due to India’s dismal performance on the Tour of Australia.According to PTI, Nayar’s dismissal was planned when Sitanshu Kotak was hired to the Indian team’s support staff as an additional batting coach.
“The BCCI held a review meeting shortly after the tour of Australia. The senior board executives, including secretary Devajit Saikia and vice-president Rajeev Shukla, were present, as were key members of the Indian squad and national selectors, according to a BCCI source quoted by the news agency.”On the outskirts of the discussion, a powerful member of the support staff raised his concerns about Nayar’s presence, stating that his presence in the dressing room is counterproductive.
“While the BCCI did not act quickly, they did bring in Kotak, a former Saurashtra run-accumulator. “It was a way to keep Nayar out of the Champions Trophy,” the person explained.
When the selections were made, Nayar was not Gautam Gambhir’s first choice of assistant coach.He was chosen to serve as a liaison between Gambhir and skipper Rohit Sharma, with whom he has a great friendship from their time together as Mumbai teammates.
Nayar and Dilip were the Indian skipper’s “most trusted lieutenants,” and it is unclear whether Rohit was kept informed of these decisions by BCCI officials.Abhishek Nayar and another assistant coach, Ryan ten Doeschate, were reportedly under investigation earlier at the beginning of 2025 because the BCCI wasn’t pleased with the apparent “Kolkata Knight Riders touch” in team management, according to a BCCI source who was cited by news agency ANI.
During the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka eight months ago, former Indian all-rounder Abhishek Nayar and former Netherlands cricketer Ryan Ten Doeschate joined Team India’s support staff as assistant coaches. Alongside Gambhir, Nayar and Doeschate served as KKR’s assistant coaches.The Kolkata-based team, coached by Gambhir, defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets in the final to win the 2024 Indian Premier League.
