Gautam Gambhir Appoints Abhishek Nayar, Ryan ten Doeschate as India Assistant Coaches

Gautam Gambhir, India's head coach, has appointed two new assistants to his coaching staff: Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate. Both individuals were part of Gambhir's successful stint as coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

"This is going to be the crux of the support staff," Gambhir said. "I have worked with people like Ryan and Abhishek in the last two months in the IPL, enjoyed working with them, thorough professionals. Hopefully we can have a successful tenure as coaches."

In addition to Nayar and ten Doeschate, T. Dilip has been reappointed as fielding coach, while Sairaj Bahutule, who was part of the support staff in Zimbabwe, will take over as bowling coach. Barring ten Doeschate, who will join the squad in Pallekele, the others traveled with the team to Colombo on Monday.

Dilip is expected to be the lone survivor from Rahul Dravid's coaching staff, while Morne Morkel is the front-runner for the bowling coach's post.

Gambhir, who played a key role in India's World T20 and World Cup triumphs in 2007 and 2011 respectively, emphasized the importance of winning and creating a positive team environment.

"My learning has been simple – it has been all about winning. I don’t deviate from something. We are in a profession where there can be only one winner. We try and play fair, we try and play hard and try and come back in a winning dressing room and a happy dressing room," he said.

"A happy dressing room is a winning dressing room. Ultimately it is the players’ team, support staff is there to try and get the maximum out of their potential. Some days international cricket can be tough, can be insecure as well because only 15 can keep. It is the job of support staff to keep them happy."

Tags: #Cricket, #India, #Coaching, #GautamGambhir, #AbhishekNayar