The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has not uttered a word about the status of the Indian team’s Assistant Coach Abhishek Nayar who was part of the Gautam Gambhir-steered support staff. But the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) has announced that Abhishek Nayar has returned to the franchise — which has confirmed that Nayar extolled by none other than India’s star batter KL Rahul and a few more — has lost his job with the Indian team. Nayar was with KKR from 2018 to 2024, and so returning to the Shah Rukh Khan owned franchise team indicates that KKR was happy with the work done by him. Reports, citing “one or many of BCCI’s million sources” say that Nayar’s position became untenable after India’s 0-3 rout by New Zealand in the home series and 1-3 defeat in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. It can be surmised that Nayar was not able to help skipper Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli and the others score runs off the Australia pace pack in Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland. Josh Hazlewood did not play the full series after he suffered a calf injury in the second Test in Brisbane. The BCCI believes that Sitanshu Kotak, appointed batting coach of the men in blue teams for the home series against England and continued for the ICC Champions Trophy in Dubai, can deliver wonders for the national team. Kotak’s appointment from Centre of Excellence duties to the Indian team was a cue that Nayar was on the way out. A regional broadsheet even went to the extent of suggesting that Nayar was divulging dressing room happenings to the outside world and hence, was asked to go! What a reason!
