New Delhi: Former Mumbai batter Abhishek Nayar is in line to become India’s batting coach, according to reports. Nayar is currently employed with Kolkata Knight Riders as a batting coach and has worked closely with Gautam Gambhir for at the franchise. Based on the report, Gambhir wanted Nayar in the Indian dressing room and is believed to have received a green light from the BCCI. It was reported that Gambhir wanted former South African cricketer Jonty Rhodes as fielding coach.
Nayar has been with KKR since 2018 and played a crucial role in grooming youngsters. The emergence of Angkrish Raghuvanshi in IPL 2024 is one of many examples of Nayar’s work at KKR. Not just Angkrish, Nayar has been mentor to current India captain Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, and Shubman Gill among many. The southpaw had a remarkable domestic career for Mumbai before shifting to Puducherry at the fag end of his career.
Nayar has played 103 first-class matches, scoring 5749 runs and took 173 wickets. In IPL, Nayar played for Mumbai Indians initially. Later he turned up for teams like now-defunct Pune Warriors India, Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab. He made his India debut in the tour of West Indies in 2009. Unfortunately, Nayar couldn’t score a single run in his three ODIs.
