Abhishek Nayar, T Dilip to exit as BCCI downsizes India support staff for England tour

The Indian team will travel with a downsized support staff for the upcoming tour of England. The contracts of strength and conditioning (S&C) coach Soham Desai, fielding coach T Dilip, and assistant coach Abhishek Nayar have all been terminated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Their contracts were till June. Other than Adrian le Roux, there won't be any newcomers. The South African will take over for Desai as the S&C coach. Other members of the Gautam Gambhir-led support staff - batting coach Sitanshu Kotak, bowling coach Morne Morkel and assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate - will continue. Following T Dilip's departure, Ten Doeschate will also assume the role of fielding coach. The changes have largely come on expected lines. Cricbuzz has often reported previously that the positions of two coaches are in danger following Gautam Gambhir's growing influence within the Indian team setup. After a few setbacks during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia, Gambhir took a more assertive and proactive stance. At first, he agreed with the team's preferences. One of the first decisions he took was to onboard Kotak as the batting coach, rendering the role of Nayar virtually superfluous. It may not exactly be fair, but Nayar may have faced the axe for the continuous failure of the batters in Australia, including skipper Rohit Sharma. Ironically, Gambhir himself recommended Nayar because both of them had previously worked for the Kolkata Knight Riders team before joining the Indian team. Nayar also had the backing of skipper Rohit, just as Dilip, who survived the shakeup of the previous dispensation under Rahul Dravid. It is understood that Rohit insisted on Dilip's retention after Dravid (head coach), Paras Mhambrey (bowling coach) and Vikram Rathour (fielding coach) had exited the Indian team after last year's Twenty20 World Cup. Dilip continued under Gambhir, who brought in ten Doeschate as a fielding coach. The former Netherlands captain had been working in the Knight Riders set-up in that position. As for Le Roux, who has been with the Punjab Kings setup for about seven years, it will be a homecoming as he had worked with the Indian team in the past. For the record, the PBKS management maintains that he has not yet informed them about the Indian team offer. What next for Dilip and Nayar is a matter of speculation but it may not be a surprise if Nayar returns to the Knight Riders team. His contribution is highly valued by the KKR management and the doors for him at KKR may still be open. Abhishek Nayar was overseeing the KKR Academy while also serving as an assistant coach with the franchise. In addition, he has been working individually with several players. Immediately after the Champions Trophy, KL Rahul sought Nayar's expertise to prepare for the IPL and publicly credited him for his contribution to his success this season. There has been speculation that Dilip could take over as the Andhra coach. Being a Telugu native based in Hyderabad, he may have an offer from the state association. He recently went to address the Andhra Cricket Academy team, but these are still early days. For the record, the Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) officials have denied this development.