Laxman to join NCA on Dec 13, will travel with U-19s for World Cup, Cooley's appointment ratified

Mumbai, Dec 4: Batting great VVS Laxman will be joining NCA as the head of cricket on December 13 as his appointment, along with that of other coaches, was ratified by the general body of the BCCI on Saturday.

Laxman, along with the appointment of former Australia and England bowling coach Troy Cooley as the pace bowling coach of National Cricket Academy, was finalised during the Annual General Meeting in Kolkata.

"Laxman's contract has been signed already. His last media assignment is the second Test between New Zealand and India. He will be joining Bengaluru from December 13. He is also for a certain period be in the West Indies for the the U-19 ICC World Cup," a senior BCCI office-bearer, privy to the development, told PTI after the meeting.

He informed that one among the NCA coaches Hrishikesh Kanitkar or Sitanshu Kotak will don the head coach's hat for the U-19 global event. "We have also finalised all the NCA coaching appointments and it has been minuted," he said.

Ganguly, Shah invited for 'Mandela Dinner' BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah have been invited by Cricket South Africa for the 'Annual Nelson Mandela Dinner' scheduled on January 2. However, it is still not certain whether the BCCI bigwigs will travel to the Rainbow Nation to attend the prestigious event following the emergence of the Omicron variant that has caused a spike in COVID-19 cases in the region.

India set to send 20-member squad plus net bowlers to South Africa

India will be sending 20 players across two formats for the upcoming three Test and three ODI series in South Africa along with extra net bowlers. Some among the 20 members will be those who are currently in South Africa for the A series.

"Most of them will come back after the third A Test but may be a couple will be selected in the main squad and a few who will be net bowler," the official said.