Abhishek Nayar returns to KKR as assistant coach to all but confirm sacking from Team India coaching set-up
Abhishek Nayar has rejoined the Kolkata Knight Riders amid reports of him being axed as India's batting coach.
Abhishek Nayar has returned to Kolkata Knight Riders amid multiple reports that the former India batter has been removed as the national team's batting coach, following the side's poor outing during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy earlier this year. India faced a 3-1 series defeat in the away series, squandering a 1-0 lead after the first Test win in Perth. Nayar had worked alongside Gautam Gambhir – the current Indian head coach – with the KKR in the previous season, too.
According to a report from PTI, Nayar was relieved of his duties as Team India’s assistant coach barely eight months into the job. The decision, not yet officially announced by the BCCI, comes amid strong whispers of a rift with a prominent member of the team’s support staff, according to the report. The official reason, it states, was India underperforming in Australia.
“While India’s recent Test debacles (against New Zealand and Australia) has led to the churning but there is also a feeling in the BCCI that Nayar became a scapegoat in the turf war between an important member of the support staff and a senior star player,” a BCCI source told PTI.
The assistant coach’s removal is not an isolated event either. Fielding coach T Dilip and Strength & Conditioning coach Soham Desai are also expected to exit, having completed more than three years in their respective roles. This coincides with the BCCI’s newly implemented Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), which restricts support staff tenures to a maximum of three years.
Meanwhile, Adrian Le Roux — India’s first-ever Strength and Conditioning coach — is tipped for a return. The South African, credited with revolutionising the team's fitness regime during the 2003 World Cup under Sourav Ganguly, is seen as a strong contender to resume the role.
As things stand, Nayar’s exit appears to be part of a broader structural overhaul. But behind-the-scenes tensions might have played an equal, if not a greater role in his unceremonious departure.
