Gautam Gambhir To Remain India’s Red-Ball Coach As Devajit Saikia Quashes ‘BCCI Contacting VVS Laxman’ Rumours: Report

The secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Devajit Saikia, has backed Gautam Gambhir as India's head coach in the red-ball format and vehemently refuted any rumours of the Board contacting former India batter VVS Laxman for the above role replacing Gambhir

He outright rejected the rumours as factually incorrect and baseless and even referred to them as somebody's figment of imagination.

"This is totally incorrect news going on. This is totally speculative news. Some very reputed news agencies are also flashing the news. There is no truth to it. BCCI straight away denies. People can think all they want, but BCCI has not taken any steps. This is somebody's figment of imagination; there is no truth in it, and I cannot say anything except that this is factually incorrect and baseless news," Saikia clarified to ANI.

Gautam Gambhir's Future As India's Coach

The current Indian test under Gautam Gambhir is under scathing criticism after a flurry of defeats in this format, especially two whitewashes at home against New Zealand and South Africa in a span of just a year. Given the dismal performance of the Indian team in this format, the pressure was mounting on the BCCI to take some hard calls over the future of Gautam Gambhir in the Test format, and the threats over Gambhir's career as Indian Test coach intensified after the rumours started making rounds that the Board even informally contacted VVS Laxman to take up this role.

However, BCCI's rebuttal to these claims might have given temporary relief to Gambhir, but his position as India's head coach will be under severe scrutiny as India will feature in the upcoming T20I World Cup at home, and the team's performance in that tournament could have an overall bearing on Gambhir's coaching career.