• Source:JND

India head coach Gautam Gambhir and his regular support staff will not travel with the team for the upcoming Zimbabwe tour or the Asian Games in Japan. According to a Sportstar report, National Cricket Academy (Centre of Excellence) head VVS Laxman will take charge as the stand-in head coach for both assignments.

The Zimbabwe T20I series is scheduled to take place from 23 to 26 July, just a few days after India’s ODI series in England ends. Meanwhile, the cricket competition at the 2026 Asian Games will overlap with India’s home ODI series against the West Indies, which is set to be played from September 27 to October 3.

ALSO READ: Revealed! Why BCCI Dropped Sanju Samson From India's T20I Squad Against Zimbabwe

Laxman will be joined by spin-bowling coach Sunil Joshi and batting coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar. This won’t be the first time he has stepped into the role. Over the last few years, Laxman has often coached India’s second-string squads, especially when the senior team has been busy with another international assignment.

For the Zimbabwe series, India has picked a young-looking T20I squad. The matches will be played in Harare from July 23 to 26. Several senior players, including Sanju Samson, have been rested. Rinku Singh and Mayank Yadav have returned to the squad, while Harsh Dubey, Yash Thakur, Ashok Sharma and Prabhsimran Singh have earned their first-ever T20I call-ups for India.

India's squad for Zimbabwe T20I series

Shreyas Iyer (c), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma (vc), Ishan Kishan (wk), Shivam Dube, Suryansh Shedge, Rinku Singh, Harsh Dubey, Varun Chakaravarathy, Prince Yadav, Yash Thakur, Ashok Sharma, Mayank Yadav, Prabhsimran Singh (wk).

India’s squad for Asian Games 2026 

India’s pace-bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah returns to T20Is for the Asian Games 2026. However, as per a report, the Asian Games 2026 squad may undergo changes as well. Several ODI players feature in the T20I squad for the Asian Games.

Shreyas Iyer (c), Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (vc), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Jasprit Bumrah.


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