India coach Gautam Gambhir to fly home from Australia
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India cricket team coach Gautam Gambhir will fly back home from Australia on Tuesday because of ‘a family emergency’. He will miss the tour game in Canberra but is expected to rejoin the team before the start of the second Test at Adelaide on December 6.
“Gambhir will be travelling back home due to a family emergency and will rejoin the team before the start of the second Test. The BCCI has accepted his request,” a team official told Hindustan Times on Tuesday.
The Indian team won the first Test at Perth by a massive 295-run margin and are scheduled to travel to Canberra on Wednesday to play a two-day pink-ball tour game which is scheduled to start on Saturday.
The match will serve as good preparation for the Indian team as the Adelaide Test is also a day-night affair. It will also allow Rohit Sharma to get a feel of the conditions in the middle.
The India skipper had missed the first Test due to the birth of his second child. He had a net session on Monday. Rohit faced around 200 deliveries with pacers Mukesh Kumar, Yash Dayal, Akash Deep and Prasidh Krishna giving him a good working over.
On Tuesday, the skipper and team skipped the nets and just did a net session in the team hotel.
In the absence of Gambhir, the Indian team’s support staff will take over the training sessions. Assistant coaches Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate, bowling coach Morne Morkel, fielding coach T Dilip and Rohit will be put the team through the paces.
Australia’s assistant coach Daniel Vettori was absent from the first Test to attend the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction but Australia head coach Andrew McDonald said it didn’t affect their preparations for the game.
“He [Vettori] is still connected with us. A lot of pre-planning, prep work gone in. The answer is no [it didn’t make a difference], he’s got some commitments elsewhere.”
