After the Indian cricket team’s disappointing show at the Border Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, which the Rohit Sharma-led team lost by a 3-1 margin, came a series of news leaks. While a series loss is part of sports, what came as a surprise was dressing room news getting leaked quite regularly after the series. There were news that there was a certain player who wanted to the interim captain of the team, then came another shocking report which alleged that India coach Gautam Gambhir had blamed Sarfaraz Khan for the leaked news. 

Now, if a report in Hindi daily Dainik Jagran is to be believed, BCCI has sprung into action and has sacked assistant coach Abhishek Nayar, despite the popular coach being only eight months into his tenure with the Indian cricket team. There has been no official confirmation from BCCI’s side regarding the development. If the BCCI issues a statement regarding the same, this report will be updated. The report further claimed that BCCI has recently sent a notice saying any support staff who has been with the team for more than three years may be removed from service. Fielding coach T Dillip and trainer Soham Desai, who have been with the team for three years, have also been removed from service, claimed the report.

No new appointments will be made in place of Nayar and Dillip. Domestic cricket great Sitanshu Kotak is already associated with the team while Ryan ten Doeschate will oversee the role played by Doeschate. Desai’s role will be taken over by Adrian Le Roux. The South Africa is currently associated with Punjab Kings. From 2008 till 2019, he worked with Kolkata Knight Riders. From 2002 to 2003, he worked with the Indian team too. Adrian will join the Indian team after the IPL. 

Earlier, asserting that “debates” in the dressing room should not come out in public domain, India head coach Gautam Gambhir said he has had some “honest” conversations with his players as only performance can help them stay in the set-up. Amid reports of unrest in the dressing room, Gambhir sought to douse the fire by declaring that they were “just reports, not truth”. “Debates between coach and player should remain in dressing room. Stern words. They were just reports not truth,” Gambhir said in a pre-match press meet.

“Indian cricket will be in safe hands till honest people stay in the dressing room. Only thing that keeps you in the dressing room is performance. There were honest words and honesty is important,” he added.

“There is only one tendency and there is only one discussion – it’s the team first ideology that matters. You need to play what the team needs. You can still play your natural game in a team sport – but if the team needs you – you need to play in a certain way,” the head coach said.