VVS Laxman named India head coach for men's Asian Games cricket competition

The Indian men’s cricket team will have VVS Laxman as head coach for the forthcoming cricket competition at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya. Laxman will be assisted by Sunil Joshi, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and fielding coach Subhadeep Ghosh.

The Indian women’s team will continue with their regular coaching staff: head coach Amol Muzumdar, bowling coach Aavishkar Salvi and fielding coach Munish Bali. The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports issued an official circular confirming the appointments on September 2.

The men’s cricket tournament at the Asian Games (September 17 to October 3) overlaps with the ODI leg of West Indies’ white‑ball tour of India, which begins on September 27. The clash in schedules has compelled the BCCI to assign a separate coaching group for the Asian Games squad. Gautam Gambhir will oversee India’s ODI squad for the West Indies series.

Laxman also served as head coach of the India team that won the gold medal at the previous edition of the Asian Games. He recently oversaw the side that completed a 3‑0 whitewash over Zimbabwe in a three‑match T20I series. Since 2022, Laxman has stepped in as head coach on multiple occasions. Laxman is also the Head of Cricket at BCCI's Centre of Excellence.

India’s squad for the Asian Games 2026:

Shreyas Iyer (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (vice‑captain), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

Asian Games 2026 men's cricket draw

Asian Games 2026 women's quarterfinals line-up