Less than a year after Abhishek Nayar was appointed assistant coach of the Indian men’s national team, the BCCI has cancelled his contract.
Abhishek Nayar, who was hired in July of last year, is the first significant casualty of the BCCI’s review of India’s dismal Test cricket performance in the latter part of last year, which started with the 3-0 home loss to New Zealand and the 3-1 series loss in Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
In collaboration with India head coach Gautam Gambhir, the BCCI held a comprehensive assessment meeting shortly after India’s return from Australia. India Test and ODI captain Rohit Sharma, selectors chairman Ajit Agarkar, and BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia were also in attendance at that first review conference, which took place in Mumbai.
After Gambhir was named head coach, he personally selected Abhishek Nayar, a Mumbai all-rounder who had played three ODIs for India. Nayar’s stay was unknown, but Gambhir was awarded a three-year deal that would last until the 2027 ODI World Cup.
Together, Gambhir and Nayar helped the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) win their third IPL championship in 2024—the first in ten years. Nayar has worked one-on-one with a number of international and uncapped Indian players, including as Rohit, Dinesh Karthik, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, and Angkrish Raghuvanshi, despite the fact that he has never been a domestic coach.
KL Rahul recently gave Abhishek Nayar credit for his performance in white-ball cricket, saying, “Big shoutout to Abhishek Nayar.” Since he joined the Indian team, I’ve collaborated with him frequently.
Before the white-ball home series against England in late January, the BCCI named former Saurashtra batsman Sitanshu Kotak as the batting coach, raising questions over Nayar’s future. As members of Gambhir’s support staff, Kotak and Nayar had also flown to the Champions Trophy with assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate and fielding coach T Dilip.
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