Nayar, Doeschate to reunite with Gambhir as India's assistant coaches during Sri Lanka white-ball tour

New Delhi [India], July 20 (ANI): Former Indian all-rounder Abhishek Nayar and former Netherlands star Ryan Ten Doeschate are set to join Men in Blue's support staff as assistant coaches for the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka starting from July 27 onwards. As per ESPNCricinfo, the pair will once again join forces with Gautam Gambhir, who was with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) as a mentor in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 winning campaign before being appointed as the new head coach of India earlier in July. Nayar and Doeschate were also the assistant coaches at KKR and worked with Gambhir.

Also, as per ESPNCricinfo, the former South African pacer Morne Morkel has been approached for the role of Team India's bowling coach, taking over the post from Paras Mhambrey. Morkel also has a history with Gambhir, having worked with him in the IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and SA20 team Durban Super Giants (LSG) as bowling coach, where Gambhir worked as a global mentor.

Also, former India and Karnataka seamer Vinay Kumar has been shortlisted for the role, but Morkel is believed to be leading the race to replace Mhambrey, as per ESPNCricinfo.

The new coaching set-up will be working in Indian colours for the first-time ever during the white-ball series against SL, consisting of three ODIs and T20Is.

Nayar, 40 years of age, represented India in three ODIs while he won multiple Ranji Trophy titles with Mumbai in a first-class career spanning 103 matches, scoring 5,749 runs with 13 centuries and taking 173 wickets. As an active player, he also mentored Indian wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik to have a late-career resurgance as a finisher and make return to Indian team.

KKR and India spinner Varun Chakravarthy had also praised Nayar for his role in IPL 2024 win, the team's first in a decade and overall third. Nayar also worked with the Trinbago Knight Riders, KKR's sister franchise, in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) as a head coach.

Doeschate is currently with the Los Angeles Knight Riders (LAKR), another sister franchise of KKR in Major League Cricket (MLC) in the USA, working as an assistant coach to head coach Phil Simmons. He has also worked with Kent County as a batting coach. (ANI)