VVS Laxman to be head coach for Gaikwad-led Asian Games squad as likely support staff for men's, women's teams revealed

The Indian men's cricket team will be in the middle of their last-ditch efforts to get ready for the ODI World Cup.

They just finished a home game against five-time champions Australia and will meet at Chennai's MA Chidambaram Stadium for their ODI World Cup opener at the same time that the Asian Games begin in China.

Since regular head coach Rahul Dravid is in Chennai with the team led by Rohit Sharma to prepare for the World Cup, BCCI is expected to send batting legend and National Cricket Academy chief VVS Laxman to Hangzhou, China, to be head coach for the team led by Ruturaj Gaikwad.

Cricket is coming back to the Asian Games for the third time in history, after being left out of the 2018 games. India will send a men's team for the first time ever.

Cricket will start at the Asian Games 2022 on September 19, when the women's team takes the pitch. Based on how the ICC ranks them in this version, India will start right away in the quarterfinals, and the final will take place on October 26.

The men's game will start on September 28 and end on October 7, a day before Rohit and his team play Australia in their first World Cup match.

In the men's category, there will be 15 teams, and in the women's category, there will be nine. Each team will be given a seed based on its ICC ranking as of June 1, 2023.

A story from the Times of India says that Laxman, who is currently running a high-performance camp for India's up-and-coming players in Bengaluru, will go to China with the men's Asian Games team as their head coach. Sairaj Bahutule, a former leg spinner for India, will be his bowling coach, and Munish Bali will be his catching coach.

Support staff for women's team revealed

Hrishikesh Kanitkar, a former all-rounder for India, will be the head coach of the women's team for the time being. Rajib Dutta will be his bowling coach, and Subhadeep Ghosh will be his catching coach.