Reports: VVS Laxman to be named as the head coach ahead of the South Africa series
Considering the reports from other sources, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to select two separate squads ahead of the upcoming series against South Africa and England.
South Africa will tour India for a five-match T20I series and on the other side, India will tour England in July for an unfinished Test and ODI and T20I series.
As BCCI will prepare a young Indian squad for the South Africa series with the big boys rested and this squad is also expected to travel for the two-match T20I series for Ireland.
In that case, VVS Laxman is expected to be the head coach of this side, as Rahul Dravid will travel with the other Indian side for the England series.
Considering the recent reports, a BCCI official informed, "We now have a warm-up game against Leicestershire on June 24 before the Birmingham test. Rahul Dravid and the team will leave on June 15th or 16th. We will be asking VVS (Laxman) to step in for India South Africa T20’s and Ireland T20s."
Shikhar Dhawan is expected to lead India against South Africa:
We have seen this before as BCCI sending two teams for back to back series against Sri Lanka and England. As of now, the second-string side will be facing the Proteas with Shikhar Dhawan expected to lead the side along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
The second-string side will have the likes of the top performers from this edition of the IPL. The big boys Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and a few more will be travelling to England on 15th June.
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The South Africa series is expected to see the comeback of Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik who have performed well in this edition of the Indian Premier League. Moreover, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh and a few more might be added to the squad.
On the other side, Cheteshwar Pujara who is having a great County season in England will be making his comeback to the squad. However, we will miss Ajinkya Rahane as he has been ruled out of the IPL after suffering an injury.