VVS Laxman to Coach India at Asian Games 2026

New Delhi, September 3: VVS Laxman, Director of Cricket at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence, will lead the Indian men’s team at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. He will be supported by coaches Sunil Joshi, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, and Subhadeep Ghosh.

Laxman previously coached India to a gold medal at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. Regular head coach Gautam Gambhir will remain with the senior team for the upcoming ODI series against the West Indies, starting on September 27.

The cricket competition at the Asian Games begins on September 24. India’s men’s team will play their first match on September 28 against the second-placed side from Group A (Afghanistan, Japan, Nepal). The women’s team, led by Amol Muzumdar, will start in the quarterfinals and face Japan.

India aims to defend its T20 titles in both men’s and women’s categories. The men’s team is captained by Shreyas Iyer, featuring rising star Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. The women’s team, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, includes Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma.

Indian Men’s Squad: 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, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

Indian Women’s Squad: 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, Nandani Sharma.