IND vs ENG 2022: VVS Laxman likely to coach India in 1st T20I at Southampton

With a short turnaround between the one-off Test and the T20I series against England, VVS Laxman may coach the Indian T20 team again.

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VVS Laxman is “likely” to coach the Indian Twenty20 International (T20I) team after coaching the team in Ireland and the practice games. The final day of the Test against England will be on July 5, while the opening T20I will be played only two days later, on July 7. Due to the quick turnaround, India has announced a different squad of players for the first T20I compared to the other two. And, now it seems there will be different coaches, with Rahul Dravid taking over from the second T20I, which will be played on July 9. England has not included Ben Stokes in their T20I squad, as the new England Test captain will directly join the team for the ODIs, reports ANI.

Laxman, currently the chief of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru, accompanied Team India as its coach during its two T20I match series against Ireland, in which two matches were played on July 26 and July 28. Laxman had accompanied the team as a coach because the regular head coach Dravid travelled with India’s squad for its tour of England, which started from July 1 onwards.

After the second warm-up match against Northamptonshire [that took place on Sunday], Laxman took to Twitter and wrote: “Good warm-up games against Derby & Northamptonshire. Great to see the intensity everyone played with, and happy that the boys got all the practice they needed for the T20I series. Next stop Southampton #ENGvIND.”