Team India ropes in new batting coach ahead of England series

Former Saurashtra captain and batter Sitanshu Kotak will join Team India's setup as batting coach. Kotak will start his stint with the five-match T20I Series against England which starts from January 22.

Kotak, who retired in 2013 after playing first-class cricket for over 20 years, has been working as a batting coach at the National Cricket Academy since 2019. Kotak has served as the head coach of India A on several tours. He has served as an assistant coach to VVS Laxman when VVS Laxman himself served as the head coach for India's bilateral series in last few years.

Kotak will be the 5th assistant coach in the coaching staff led by Gautam Gambhir who took charge in August. Gautam Gambhir brought three assistant coaches that time former South African Pacer Morne Morkel (bowling coach), along with former India allrounder Abhishek Nayar and former Netherlands captain Ryan ten Doeschate as assistant coaches. T Dilip, who was the fielding coach during Rahul Dravid's tenure, was retained.

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It was decided after BCCI's review meeting which was conducted in Mumbai last week to assess India's disastrous run of series defeats starting with the white-ball loss in Sri Lanka, followed by a whitewash against New Zealand at home and then a 3-1 loss to Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Poor performance from the Indian batters was the main reason behind these defeats and also the Test side missing out on a World Test Championship Final berth. Batting was reportedly a key topic in the review meeting, which included Gambhir, selection committee head Ajit Agarkar, and several top BCCI officials, including the newly appointed board secretary, Devajit Saikia.