The director of cricket at the BCCI’s Center of Excellence, VVS Laxman, has been named head coach of the Indian men’s cricket squad for the 2026 Asian Games. The cricket competition will start on September 24 and run from September 19 to October 4, 2026, in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. The first game for India is scheduled for September 28.
The Indian women’s team is led by Harmanpreet Kaur, while the men’s team will be captained by Shreyas Iyer. Aavishkar Salvi, the bowling coach, and Munish Bali, the fielding coach, support Amol Muzumdar, the head coach of the Indian women’s team. For the West Indies ODI series starting on September 27, Gautam Gambhir will continue to serve as head coach of the senior men’s side.
Sunil Joshi, a bowling coach, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, a batting coach, and Subhadeep Ghosh make up VVS Laxman men’s team support staff. Prior to this, Laxman was India’s coach at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, when the men’s team took home the gold. The men’s and women’s teams are the reigning T20 champions going into the 2026 tournament.
India’s initial match in the men’s draw is scheduled for September 28 against the second-place team from Group A, which includes Afghanistan, Japan, and Nepal. The women’s team will play Japan in their quarterfinal match after entering the game at the quarterfinal stage.
What circumstances led to VVS Laxman coaching appointment?
VVS Laxman was appointed in a manner similar to that of the 2023 Asian Games, when he took over as head coach while the senior team’s normal coaching staff fulfilled its own international obligations. India won a gold medal in Hangzhou thanks to that agreement, and the BCCI has repeated the format for the 2026 tournament.
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.
