According to reports, India have appointed Sitanshu Kotak as their new batting coach ahead of their T20I series against England.
Ahead of the 2025 Champions Trophy, India Men will host England for three T20Is between January 22 and 28, and five ODIs between January 31 and February 12. According to an ESPNcricinfo report, they are all set to recruit Sitanshu Kotak as their new batting coach before the England series.
A former Saurashtra captain, Kotak played domestic cricket from 1992-93 to 2013-14. Over this period, he made 8,061 first-class runs at 41.76 with 15 hundreds and 55 fifties. He also averaged 42.23 in List A cricket and played nine T20 games.
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Now 52, Kotak has been the batting coach as the National Cricket Academy since 2019; has coached India A; and has been the assistant coach of the men’s team when VVS Laxman has stepped in as head coach from time to time.
When India toured Ireland in 2023, Kotak had even filled in as head coach of the team. In other words, he has been with the setup for some time.
Kotak will join a support staff that also features head coach Gautam Gambhir, bowling coach Morne Morkel, fielding coach T Dilip, and assistant coaches Ryan ten Doeschate and Abhishek Nayar.
While there is no official reason behind the recruitment a new batting coach, it might have come in the aftermath of a series of batting collapses.
In their last two series, India have lost 0-3 against New Zealand at home (their first series defeat at home since 2012-13) and 1-3 in Australia (after four consecutive series wins). They were bowled out for sub-200 totals nine times in these eight Tests, and failed to cross 200 thrice more. Before that, in August 2024, they were bowled out for 230, 208, and 108 in Sri Lanka in their only ODIs of the year.
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