Vikram Rathour, the former Indian team batting coach for men, died last month and is being considered to take over from VVS Laxman as the new director of the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. VVS Laxman’s term in office as an NCA chief expires by September, and he may not put up a fight for the position if it is not renewed according to a report from Sport Tak.
“It is very likely that you may see Rathour heading NCA. For now, a call on VVS Laxman’s contract renewal is pending, but the conversation from his side is not positive,” the source was quoted as saying by Sports Tak.
At the moment, he is in Sri Lanka to attend the ICC’s annual general meeting; once he is back, he will talk to Laxman about it. However, an official statement will only be issued when BCCI Secretary Jay Shah returns from his official tour of Sri Lanka.
“Rathour might be asked to take charge at NCA. The BCCI secretary (Jay Shah) after the ICC meeting is likely to have a word with VVS to understand his side,” the source added.
Following Rathour’s brief international career with India, during which he played six Tests and seven ODIs, he was named India’s batting coach in August 2019 after Sanjay Bangar’s departure. He stayed on as coach of the batsmen despite the appointment of Rahul Dravid as head coach of the Indian team in November 2021.
Laxman served as the interim head coach
VVS Laxman who was at one time a batsman in the Indian cricket team and became Head of National Cricket Academy in India in November 2021, was acting Head Coach for the Indian team when they took part in a five-match Twenty Twenty International series against Zimbabwe this month.
Laxman received the duty following Gambhir’s incompletion of the contract and the termination of Dravid’s contract. Eventually, he steered the infant Indian side captained by Shubman Gill to overcome a terrible start where they lost the opening match and won the series 4-1 on his watch.
He had already served as India’s interim head coach before this. He was in charge of Team India during the five-match T20I series against Australia last year with the same title and that was in 2022 when he led them during the Irish tour plus the India-South Africa ODI series held in October.
Are the Lucknow Super Giants keen on bringing VVS Laxman on board?
In an exciting piece of news, TOl has just discovered that the management of the Lucknow Super Giants IPL franchise wants to sign VVS Laxman as part of VVS its coaching team. VVS Laxman is the current head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.
There are rumours that Laxman might not choose to stay at the NCA with BCCI. He has until September to decide. There were high chances that Laxman would be made the head coach for Team India but he was not interested after turning down the opportunity because he said he did not love travelling much with this team.
As of yet, nothing material has been found. However, it is known that the LSG management has been reaching out informally to Laxman. Sources say that Laxman is less interested in working with NCA since he moved from Hyderabad.
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