For First Time In 8 Years, Team India Without Any Head Coach As Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman Not Accompanying Jasprit Bumrah And Co In Ireland

Laxman was expected to be travel with Bumrah and company to Ireland. However, he will not be travelling with the team. Sairaj Bahutule and Sitanshu Kotak will be incharge in absence of a head coach.

Jasprit Bumrah will lead India in Ireland. (Source: ANI)

Indian cricket team bound for Ireland series will fly to Dublin from Mumbai on August 15. This team will be led by Jasprit Bumrah, who is making a comeback after a long gap of an year. There will be no head coach travelling with the team. Earlier, it was known that in absence of head coach Rahul Dravid, head of the National Cricket Academy, VVS Laxman will accompany the team in Ireland for the 3 T20Is. But that's not the case. Laxman is not travelling with the team, says a report in Cricbuzz.

This is for the first time in eight years, that an official head coach is missing with the team in eight years. Back in 2015, after Dunca Fletcher quit the job, India played without any head coach with Ravi Shastri being the Team Direction uptill the appointment of Anil Kumble in 2017.

Even before that, India were without a head coach in 2007 after Greg Chappell left. India had a team manager back then in form of Lalchand Rajput and Venkatesh Prasad as bowling coach and Robin Singh as fielding coach. 

_ _ We will look to bring our 'A-game' in the 4_th T20I: #TeamIndia Bowling Coach Paras Mhambrey#WIvIND pic.twitter.com/J77aV3OUvC — BCCI (@BCCI) August 11, 2023

Dravid and Co are in West Indies. That is why it was assumed that Laxman will be with the squad that goes to Ireland. He had earlier taken up the duty on tours of Zimbabwe and New Zealand too. But this time, the team will have coaches Sitanshu Kotak and Sairaj Bahutule as part of the support staff.

India will play just 3 T20Is on tour of Ireland, on August 18, 20 and 23. All the matches will be played in Dublin. The likes of Tilak Varma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Ravi Bishnoi, Mukesh Kumar, Arshdeep Singh and Avesh Khan will take a flight to Dublin from Miami to Dublin as soon as the West Indies T20Is come to an end. India play two back-to-back T20Is vs West Indies, on August 12 and 13, in the USA leg of the tour. It is still not confirmed whether Dravid will be travelling to Ireland or not. Reports say that with India's packed schedule ahead, Dravid will return home before he takes flight with Sri Lanka with the Asia Cup squad.