Gambhir & Co to split up after third ODI to get Test series preps underway
India's coaching group is set to split up after the third ODI against New Zealand in Hamilton on Tuesday. The details of the plan haven't been finalised yet, but it's likely that head coach Gautam Gambhir and spin-bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule will travel to Mount Maunganui with the ODI squad for the last two matches of the series, while batting coach Sitanshu Kotak and fast-bowling coach Morne Morkel will join the Test squad in a pre-series camp in Wellington, where the first Test begins on November 19.
"[The plan] can still change, but as far as I know, obviously Gautam will have to be here - the one-day World Cup is coming [in 2027], so he will be staying here and probably Sairaj will stay here," Kotak said in a press conference in Hamilton on Monday. "Me, Morne and some other staff will go to Wellington.
"That's the plan, but like I said, Gautam will make the final decision. It can change, but this is how it will likely be. We'll just try and see that their loading, their fitness, their practice - we do as much preparation as the conditions permit."
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Kotak also said three fast bowlers from India's ODI squad - likely Gurnoor Brar, Auqib Nabi and Arshdeep Singh - will stay back in New Zealand to help the Test squad as net bowlers and reserve players. "I think three bowlers," Kotak said. "Gurnoor, maybe Nabi, and I think Arsh is also staying back."
If these are indeed India's plans, Kotak and Morkel will leave for Wellington on February 11 along with batters Shubman Gill and KL Rahul, seamers Anshul Kamboj and Mohammed Siraj, and wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav, who are all part of the Test squad and will not be playing the fourth and fifth ODIs in Mount Maunganui.
Gambhir and Bahutule, along with Brar, Nabi and Arshdeep, will travel from Mount Maunganui on February 16, the day after the fifth ODI, to join the Test contingent in Wellington.
As far as his own role in the Test camp was concerned, Kotak said he would look to create simulations of potential situations that the batters could face during the Test matches.
"I'm thinking in different phases," he said. "If you lose the toss, if you bat first, there will be different requirements. If you bat second, it will be different. Third and fourth innings will be different. And in my mind, there is no doubt. If we play in India on turning tracks, there are phases. Here there are different challenges, but there are phases.
"So we'll have to prepare like that, and depending on winning and losing the toss, depending on how wicket is behaving, depending on how weather is, and depending on how their bowlers are approaching, how big a spell they are bowling, I would do all those calculations, and then obviously it depends on the batters.
"How you talk to [Yashasvi] Jaiswal could be completely different to what you speak to KL, or Shubman, and then Rishabh [Pant]. So I personally feel that we have to see every individual's strength, how they like to score runs, and in these conditions which shots will be possible and useful, and which things we can avoid. And then we can let them know that, and they can share what they think, because sometimes they also have ideas and it can be different from what we think.
"So after all that, whatever everyone thinks is the best thing, and then end of the day I always believe they are professional, and whatever action they take, eventually, like it or not, they will be responsible.
"And I personally feel toss also will be very important in these conditions and the wickets they give. It will be very interesting, the two Test matches after the one-dayers."
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