After the current Test series against New Zealand, the Indian team will play a series of 4 T20 matches on the tour of South Africa. In this tour, the Indian team will play its first T20 match in Durban on November 8. After this, the teams will travel to Gakebarha for the second T20 match on November 10. The remaining two games will then be played in Centurion (November 13) and Johannesburg (November 15).
Gambhir won’t be part of South Africa tour, veteran becomes head coach
Now, big news has emerged regarding the tour to South Africa. Head coach Gautam Gambhir will not be accompanying the Indian team on this tour. The Indian team will leave for South Africa around November 4. The Indian team will leave for Australia on November 11 to take part in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. In this case, Gambhir will only be able to tour Australia.
In the absence of Gautam Gambhir, VVS Laxman will be the head coach of the Indian team for the tour of South Africa. A senior official from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) revealed the decision to Cricbuzz on Monday. The four-match T20 series was not initially confirmed but after negotiations between the BCCI and Cricket South Africa (CSA), the tour has been finalized.
Sairaj Bahutule, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Subhadeep Ghosh will also be part of the coaching staff for the tour of South Africa. Bahutul, Kanitkar and Ghosh coached the Indian team in the emerging Asia Cup tournament in Oman. On the other hand, Saurashtra’s Sitamshu Kotak and Kerala’s Mazhar Moidu traveled to Australia with the India A team.
Whenever Rahul Dravid takes a break, VVS Laxman is always in charge. The same situation is expected to continue with the Zimbabwe series that follows the T20 World Cup. VVS Laxman is the outgoing director of the National Cricket Academy (NCA). Not only that, he is also the head coach of the U-19 boys team. The U-19 World Cup 2022 was won by Yash Dhull’s team coached by VVS Laxman. Laxman scored 8781 runs in 134 Test matches at an average of 45.97. He scored 2338 runs in 86 ODI matches.
Team India in T20 series against Souths: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (goalkeeper), Rinku Singh, Tilak Verma, Jitesh Sharma (goalkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakraborty, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vaishak, Avesh Khan , Yash Dayal.
India tour to South Africa schedule (2024)
November 8 – 1st T20, Durban
November 10 – 2nd T20, Gkebarha
November 13 – 3rd T20, Centurions
November 15 – 4th T20, Johannesburg
