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On Thursday, January 16, Kevin Pietersen, the former England cricketer, took to his official X account to make himself available for the role of Indian batting coach after it was reported that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are looking for a new hiring. It has been mentioned that the BCCI are interested in adding a new member to Gautam Gambhir’s coaching staff, and the focus of attention has gone into potentially replacing Abhishek Nayar in the assistant coach role.
Notably, in the last couple of months, head coach Gautam Gambhir has come under immense pressure following a string of poor results, including their Test series losses against New Zealand at home 0-3 followed by Australia away 1-3 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT). In both the Test series, the Indian batting lineup performed way under par as a collective unit, which has put Abhishek Nayar’s job as assistant coach, overseeing the batters, under serious jeopardy, according to Cricbuzz’s report.
Kevin Pietersen won’t be joining the coaching staff of Gautam Gambhir in the Indian cricket team: Reports
In one of posts from earlier today by Johns (@criccrazyjohns), a social media aggregator, it was mentioned that, “BCCI are exploring the possibility of adding a new member to the coaching staff, specifically a batting coach. [Cricbuzz],” and in the comments section, Kevin Pietersen wrote, “Available.” The comment from Pietersen sent shockwaves in the cricketing community about whether he will indeed become a part of the Indian coaching set up in the near future.
But, within a few hours, a report from Times Now stated that Kevin Pietersen won’t be joining the coaching staff of Gautam Gambhir in the Indian cricket team. Instead, the BCCI have reportedly appointed Sitanshu Kotak as the new batting coach of the Indian cricket team two years after he worked with them during their tour to Ireland, where Jasprit Bumrah was the captain of the T20I side.
With the home series against England and the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 firmly on the horizon for Team India, it will be very interesting to see if there will be changes in the coaching set up.