VS Laxman takes over as coach of India’s Asian Games 2026 team in absence of Gautam Gambhir | Cricket news
Former Indian batsman and Director of Cricket at BCCI Center of Excellence, Laxman Plumbingis scheduled to travel with the Indian men’s national team to Japan and will take over as head coach in Abbas’s absence Gautam Gambhir For the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya later this month.Gautam Gambhir will remain with the senior team for India’s home ODI series against West Indies. The first ODI is scheduled to be played on September 27.Laxman will be assisted by the former Indian pacer Sunil JoshiHrishikesh Kanitkar and Subhadeep Ghosh, according to the list of coaches issued by the Sports Ministry. This development was earlier reported by TimesofIndia.com in July.Laxman has previous Asian Games experience, having coached the Indian men’s team in the 2023 edition in Hangzhou, China, where India won the gold medal.
India to defend men and women Asian Games Cricket Titles
The Asian Games cricket competition will begin on September 24, with India scheduled to play its opening men’s match on September 28. India will defend their men’s T20 title under the captain’s leadership. Shreyas Iyerwith teenage batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi also part of the team. The men’s team will face the second-place team in Group A, which includes Afghanistan, Japan and Nepal.The Indian women’s national team will also enter the tournament as the defending champion and will be led by him Harmanpreet Kaur. The women’s team will enter the competition in the quarter-finals and face host Japan. Amol Muzumdar will continue as head coach of the women’s team, with bowling coach Avishkar Salve and fielding coach Munish Bali completing his support staff.
Indian cricket teams at the 2026 Asian Games
Indian men’s team: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dubey, Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Suryavanshi.Indian women’s team: Harmanpreet Kaur (Team Captain), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Pratika Rawal, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Gunalan Kamalini, Bharti Phulmali, Sri Sharani, Renuka Thakur, Kranti Goud, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patel, Radha Yadav, Nandani Sharma.
