VVS Laxman set to travel to China as head coach of Indian men's cricket team at Asian Games

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VVS Laxman is set to travel as the head coach of the Indian men's cricket team for the Asian Games which will be held in Hangzhou, China. Reports have emerged that Laxman, who is currently the head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru, will be there to guide young captain Ruturaj Gaikwad.

Notably, the men's cricket event at the Asia Games kicks off from September 28, with the final on October 7, a day before Rohit Sharma-led ODI team kick off their World Cup campaign against Australia in Chennai.

Designated India head coach Rahul Dravid would be with India's World Cup squad and hence his former teammate VVS Laxman would be stepping in for him. Times of India has reported that Laxman's support staff will include former India leg-spinner Sairaj Bahutule as bowling coach and Munish Bali as the fielding coach.

Former India all-rounder Hrishikesh Kanitkar will play the role of an interim head coach of the women's team. He will be accompanied by Rajib Dutta (bowling coach) and Subhadeep Ghosh (fielding coach).

The women's cricket event will kick off from September 19. By virtue of their ICC rankings in the T20I format, India will begin from the quarterfinal phase in both the categories. Fifteen teams will be participating in the men's category and nine in women's with each side seeded based on their ICC ranking as of June 1, 2023. India is sending its men's cricket team for the first team at the Asian Games.

India squad for Asian Games 2023: Ruturaj Gaikwad (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tripathi, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Shivam Mavi, Shivam Dube, Prabhsimran Singh (wk)

Standby list of players: Yash Thakur, Sai Kishore, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Sai Sudarsan.