Gambhir's Coaching Debut Amid Turmoil

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has rejected Gautam Gambhir's nomination of Morne Morkel as bowling coach for the Indian Men's Cricket Team, indicating an apparent schism between the new head coach and the cricket board.

Morne Morkel, a former South African fast, was also Pakistan's bowling coach at last year's ODI World Cup. Morkel is now associated with the IPL team Lucknow Super Giants.

However, with the current BCCI decision, Gambhir appears to be in a difficult position when it comes to picking on a support staff for the Indian Men's Cricket Team's head coach.

The BCCI turned down Morkel, Gambhir's third pick as bowling coach. The previous two were supposedly R Vinay Kumar and Laximipathy Balaji.

Gambhir's fielding coach options, Ryan ten Doeschate and Jonty Rhodes, were both rejected.

Gautam Gambhir wants former India all-rounder Abhishek Nayar on his coaching staff, possibly as an assistant or batting coach for the Indian Men's Cricket Team.

While no final decision has been made, various media reports say that Nayar, famed for rejuvenating the careers of Dinesh Karthik and Shreyas Iyer, is a major candidate for the role.

Gautam Gambhir vs BCCI: A first!

Etymologically, the BCCI has granted the Head Coach complete freedom in selecting their support personnel. The Indian men's cricket team's support personnel changed very little over the tenures of Anil Kumble, Ravi Shastri, and Rahul Dravid. Ravi Shastri deviated significantly from the Cricket Advisory Committee's recommendations, which were led by Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and VVS Laxman, and instead made his own decisions. Rahul Dravid chose Paras Mhambrey as bowling coach and T Dilip as fielding coach based on their previous work together at the NCA.

With just 10 days till Gautam Gambhir begins his coaching stint with Team India for the T20I series in Sri Lanka, the present NCA coaching team is anticipated to provide interim support to the former India opener. Gambhir and the board are currently discussing how to formalize the coaching structure before the series begins.