IND vs SA: VVS Laxman Set to be Head Coach For South Africa T20Is as Gambhir & Co Travel Down Under - Report

Former India batter and current NCA chief VVS Laxman is reportedly set for another short stint as head coach of the Indian cricket team during the upcoming tour to South Africa for a T20I series.

Laxman, who has often filled in as cover, will be travelling with Suryakumar Yadav-led squad to South Africa next week with head coach Gautam Gambhir and his coaching staff set for travels Down Under for the Border Gavaskar Trophy.

The Indian T20I side is scheduled to travel to South Africa around November 4 for the four-match series which is scheduled to start on November 8 in Durban followed by matches in Gqeberha, Centurion, and Johannesburg on November 10, 13, and 15, respectively.

Gambhir, Morne Morkel, Ryan Ten Doeschate and T Dilip will be headed to Australia along with the Rohit Sharma-led large squad on either November 10 or 11 for the Test series, which begins on November 22 in Perth.

According to a report in CricBuzz, Sairaj Bahutule, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Subhadeep Ghosh will be part of Laxman's coaching staff. Bahutule, Kanitkar and Ghosh were in charge of the Indian Emerging team that played in the bygone Asia Cup in Oman.

Laxman, who has been part of NCA since 2021, has served as head coach on multiple occasions in the past as well during Rahul Dravid's tenure and also before Gambhir took over earlier this year. His first assignment with the Indian team was in June 2022 against Ireland, and the most recent was against Zimbabwe in July 2024.

India announced the squads for both the Border Gavaskar Trophy and the South Africa tour last week with Rohit and Suryakumar set to lead the sides. Ramandeep Singh, Yash Dayal and Vyshak Vijaykumar were the new faces in the squad.

India T20I squad vs South Africa

Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Avesh Khan, Yash Dayal.