India head coach Gautam Gambhir, who played an active role in the appointment of Abhishek Nayar as a member of his support staff, was not satisfied with the former all-rounder’s performance and did not oppose the BCCI’s decision to end his contract prematurely. Sources privy to the developments told Hindustan Times that the Gambhir-Nayar partnership, which worked wonders in Kolkata Knight Riders, playing a pivotal role in ending their 10-year-long wait for an IPL title, didn’t quite click in the Indian dressing room for reasons unknown.
What didn’t help Nayar’s cause was his inability to form a strong bond with some of the senior members of the team, which from a distance, seems hard to believe as the former India all-rounder has worked with many of the top cricketers like Dinesh Karthik, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and Varun Chakaravarthy, helping them improve their game on a personal capacity. In certain cases, like Karthik and Chakavarthy’s, Nayar was instrumental in the resurgence of their careers. Karthik, in fact, handpicked Nayar as the assistant coach when he was the KKR captain.
“The board officials took feedback from senior cricketers and some were not happy with Nayar’s role inside the dressing room. He was informed about the non-renewal of his contract a few days ago,” a BCCI source told Hindustan Times.
Nayar, a stalwart in Mumbai cricket, who has represented India in three ODIs, was appointed as the assistant coach of Team India on Gambhir’s recommendation. It’s an unwritten rule in BCCI that the head coach gets to choose his support staff. It stayed the same when Gambhir was appointed as Rahul Dravid’s replacement after India won the T20 World Cup.
Apart from Nayar, Gambhir recommended Ryan ten Doeschate for the fielding coach and Morne Morkel as the bowling coach. The senior cricketers and the board members were happy with fielding coach T Dilip’s performance and as his contract was still not over, he was given an extension. That is where the problems germinated.
The only way the board could accommodate Gambhir’s recommendations and also keep Dilip as the fielding coach was to create an extra position. Hence, for the first time in the history of Indian cricket, a head coach got two designated assistant coaches – Nayar and ten Doeschate.
According to Gambhir’s original recommendation, Nayar was supposed to be the designated batting coach.
The board started to monitor the support staff’s role and performance closely after India suffered an embarrassing first-ever Test series whitewash at home, when New Zealand blanked them 3-0.
The Australia tour was the acid test. Once India lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 1-3 where most of the batters barring KL Rahul, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Yashasvi Jaiswal faltered, it was always going to be difficult for Gambhir to hold on to his support staff.
Gambhir didn’t oppose Nayar’s sacking; Sitangshu Kotak to continue as batting coach
The writing was on the wall when BCCI, after a review meeting with Gambhir and captain Rohit Sharma, appointed Sitangshu Kotak as the batting coach. Kotak, who was with the NCA, joined the team in the white-ball home series against England and also travelled with the team for the Champions Trophy.
Gambhir had no objection when the board decided to trim his support staff. “Gambhir didn’t oppose (to Nayar’s sacking). He had to go through a lot of negotiations to bring ten Doechate and Morkel on board. There was no way he was going to let them go this early,” the source added.
It is understood that Kotak will continue as the batting coach, while the designation of assistant coach is likely to be dissolved, as ten Doeschate will shift to the fielding coach’s role, as Dilip’s contract has also ended.