Former Saurashtra batter Sitanshu Kotak was on Thursday named India’s batting coach ahead of the upcoming limited-overs series against England and the Champions Trophy next month after assistant coach Abhishek Nayar’s performance came under scrutiny during the tour of Australia.
The 52-year-old Kotak is a longtime staff of the National Cricket Academy as its batting coach. He has been on tours with both the senior and A teams during the past few years.
“It is clear that Abhishek Nayar’s expertise isn’t helping the players. Kotak has been a specialist batting coach for a lengthy period of time and has also got the trust of the players,” a senior BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
The Indian batters were found wanting on the technical front in Australia with Virat Kohli’s outside the off stump troubles becoming a recurring problem. The Indians lost the five-match series 1-3.
Kotak was considered a dogged left-hander during his in domestic cricket, where he amassed over 8,000 first-class runs, including 15 hundreds, in 130 appearances.
