Devajit Saikia, the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has refuted rumors that the Board has asked batting legend VVS Laxman to replace Gautam Gambhir as Team India’s Test coach.
It was reportedly acknowledged in BCCI corridors that opinions on Gambhir’s suitability to lead the red ball side for the final nine Tests of the World Test Championship 2025–2027 cycle are still divided.
India will play two Tests each against Sri Lanka in August 2026, travel New Zealand in October, and host Australia for a five-Test series in January–February 2027 after drawing 2-2 in a five-Test away series in England.
There were some unverified rumors that the BCCI had contacted Laxman to see if he would be interested in coaching the red ball squad following India’s complete collapse against South Africa in the two-Test series at home last month.
Saikia, however, wrote off the rumors as “speculation.”
“This is totally incorrect news going on. This is totally speculative news. Some very reputed news agencies are also flashing the news. There is no truth to it. BCCI straight away denies. People can think all they want, but BCCI has not taken any steps,” ANI quoted Saikia as saying.
“This is somebody’s figment of imagination; there is no truth in it, and I cannot say anything except that this is factually incorrect and baseless news.”
In limited-overs cricket, Team India has been performing incredibly well under Gambhir, winning the Asia Cup T20I edition and the ICC Champions Trophy in undefeated runs. However, in Test cricket, India has only won seven of his matches, lost ten, and drawn the remaining two.
In terms of the series record, India got off to a strong start with a 2-0 victory over Bangladesh at home. However, subsequent losses to Australia and New Zealand (a 1-3 loss in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy away from home) resulted in the retirement of legends Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravichandran Ashwin.
Before Proteas captain Temba Bavuma, spinner Simon Harmer, and pace all-rounder Marco Jansen contributed some of the best performances of the year to first deny India a chase of just 124 runs at Kolkata and then inflict on them their biggest-ever Test loss by 408 runs, the 2-2 draw against England away from home in one of the most captivating Test series over the years under the leadership of a young Shubman Gill did give hope.
Rishabh Pant took over as captain for India in both Tests after captain Gill was sidelined due to a neck injury he suffered minutes into his batting session at the Kolkata Test.
However, India performed well enough to win hard-fought ODI and T20I series versus Proteas by margins of 2-1 and 3-1, respectively, making the home series a respectable event all around.
