The news report by ANI indicates that former pace bowlers, Zaheer Khan and Lakshmipathy Balaji are in contention to be part of the coaching staff for Team India under the new head coach Gautam Gambhir.
Zaheer and Balaji are likely to fight it out for the post of bowling coach, succeeding Paras Mhambrey whose tenure has also apparently ended. “BCCI is discussing the names of Zaheer Khan and Lakshmipathy Balaji for the position of bowling coach. BCCI is not interested in having Vinay Kumar as a candidate,” sources told ANI.
Zaheer who was one of India’s finest left-arm pacers boasts of 311 Test wickets in 92 matches and a total of 610 scalps in 309 international games across all formats for India.
Balaji on the other hand had featured in eight Tests picking up 27 wickets at an average of 37.18 besides claiming 34 wickets from his 30 appearances in ODIs.
The Board appointed support staff for Team India after naming Gambhir as head coach on Tuesday. Gambhir, a former opener for India and winner both ODI World Cups and T20 World cups, was also KKR team mentor during IPL Twenty twenty four season when he guided them to clinch their third IPL title this year. He had led KKR team to two successful IPL seasons; one in 2012 another one being in 2014.
India became champions after defeating South Africa by seven runs at Bridgetown during last month’s T20 World Cup where Dravid was serving as head coach.
