Not Gautam Gambhir, THIS teammate of former head coach Rahul Dravid will be with Suryakumar Yadav-led side for India vs South Africa 2024 T20I matches

Team India’s current head coach Gautam Gambhir will not be accompanying the national side for the four-match T20I series against South Africa beginning in Durban on November 8. The 15-member T20I squad will be led by Mumbai Indians batter Suryakumar Yadav.

Instead of Gambhir, current head of National Cricket Academy (NCA) and teammate of former India head coach Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, will be accompanying the side with ‘SKY’. Gambhir, under whom Team India lost their first-ever Test series against New Zealand last week, will be heading down under with the Indian side for the five-match Test series against Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT).

According to a report in Cricbuzz website, the decision was taken by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday (October 28) as the series was only recently arranged by the Indian cricket board and Cricket South Africa (CSA).

VVS LAXMAN TO COACH INDIA

– Laxman appointed as the Head Coach of the Indian team for the T20I series against South Africa starting on November 8th. [Vijay Tagore from Cricbuzz] pic.twitter.com/OAuqXlfj4q

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) October 28, 2024

World champions India will play four T20 Internationals in Durban, Gqeberha, Centurion and Johannesburg on November 8, 10, 13 and 15 respectively against T20 World Cup 2024 finalists South Africa. The team will depart around November 4 while the squad for the BGT leaves on November 10 or 11.

The staff and other coaches working at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru, like Sairaj Bahutule, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Subhadeep Ghosh, will be part of the coaching staff under Laxman in South Africa. Bahutule (head coach), Kanitkar (batting coach) and Ghosh (fielding coach) were part of the India Emerging side that took part in the Asia Emerging Cup tournament in Oman.

Former Saurashtra batter Sitanshu Kotak and Mazhar Moidu of Kerala, both associated with the NCA, have accompanied the Ruturaj Gaikwad-led India A team to Australia.

The BCCI had announced a 15-member squad, led by Suryakumar Yadav for the four T20Is on October 25. The four T20Is could provide an indication to the 10 franchises on the hot properties in Indian T20I side ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction scheduled for around November 25 and 26.

India T20I squad vs South Africa

Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Avesh Khan, Yash Dayal