The BCCI has appointed VVS Laxman, Director of Cricket at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence, as head coach of the Indian men's cricket team for the Asian Games 2026. The tournament is scheduled in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to October 4, 2026, with the cricket competition beginning September 24. India's opening match is set for September 28.
Shreyas Iyer will captain the Indian men's side, while Harmanpreet Kaur leads the women's team. Amol Muzumdar continues as head coach of the Indian women's team,
assisted by Aavishkar Salvi as bowling coach and Munish Bali as fielding coach. Gautam Gambhir, meanwhile, remains head coach of the senior men's team for the West Indies ODI series beginning September 27.
Laxman's support staff for the men's team includes Sunil Joshi as bowling coach, Hrishikesh Kanitkar as batting coach, and Subhadeep Ghosh. Laxman previously coached India at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, where the men's team won the gold medal. Both the men's and women's teams enter the 2026 edition as defending T20 champions.
In the men's draw, India are placed to face the second-placed side from Group A, which contains Afghanistan, Japan, and Nepal, in their opening match on September 28. The women's team enters the competition at the quarterfinal stage and will face Japan in their quarterfinal fixture.
What is the context of Laxman's coaching appointment?
Laxman's appointment follows the same arrangement used for the 2023 Asian Games, where he stepped in as head coach while the senior team's regular coaching setup continued its own international commitments. That arrangement produced a gold medal for India in Hangzhou, and the BCCI has replicated the structure for the 2026 edition.
Indian men's squad for Asian Games 2026:
Shreyas Iyer (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. Sooryavanshi, a teenage batting sensation, is among the notable inclusions in the 15-member group.
Indian women's squad for Asian Games 2026:
Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Pratika Rawal, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Gunalan Kamalini, Bharti Fulmali, Sree Charani, Renuka Thakur, Kranti Gaud, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, Radha Yadav, and Nandani Sharma. Both squads will aim to retain the titles India claimed at the 2023 edition in Hangzhou.
