BCCI mulling addition to India Men's coaching staff

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are exploring the possibility of adding a new member to the India Men's coaching staff, specifically a batting coach. While no official announcement has been made, discussions within the BCCI and the team management suggest a need to strengthen the support staff.

Cricbuzz understands that a few names are being considered, including that of Sitanshu Kotak, an experienced coaching hand in Indian cricket. Although no final decision has been made, Kotak's name is making rounds as the front runner. His name has been discussed at the highest level. An announcement is likely soon.

Currently, India's coaching staff consists of Morne Morkel (bowling coach), Abhishek Nayar (assistant coach), Ryan ten Doeschate (assistant coach) and T Dilip (fielding coach) besides the head coach Gautam Gambhir.

In the aftermath of India's tour of Australia and their recent rut of losses in Test cricket, there has been heavy criticism of the role and functioning of the coaching staff, particularly with players like Virat Kohli getting out in similar fashion regularly.

The role of support staff was discussed in the review meeting in Mumbai on January 11. The exact nature of discussion on support staff cannot be confirmed but there may be a suggestion to try things with a different expert. Adding a new batting coach seems to be one of the suggestions and here comes the name of Kotak, who has coached many an India and India A team intermittently. Kotak (52) has played 130 first class matches and has scored over 8000 runs.

It is premature to say if the existing coaching staff under Gambhir are anyway in danger of losing. But their performances, sure, are being reviewed.

Most of the attention has been on the batting of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, which was below par, to put it mildly. It could be one of the reasons why there is a feeling that a fresh addition to the coaching staff is needed to give the star batsmen some new direction. It is, however, not clear whether the BCCI will go ahead with the appointment but suggestions seem to have been made strongly about bolstering the coaching department in batting.

Text messages to BCCI officials, Gambhir and Kotak have remained unanswered till the time of going to print. The report will be updated once responses are received.