A day after the appointment of Gautam Gambhir as India’s head coach on Tuesday, former seamers Zaheer Khan and Lakshmipathy Balaji are being considered for the position of national team’s bowling coach. BCCI discussing the names of Zaheer Khan and Lakshmipati Balaji for the position of bowling coach. BCCI is not interested in the name of Vinay Kumar,” sources told ANI.

Zaheer has picked up 311 Test wickets in 92 matches and overall 610 scalps in 309 international matches across all formats for Men in Blue. He is considered one of the greatest left-arm pacers to have played the sport. Balaji has represented Team India in eight Test matches where he has managed to snap 27 wickets at an average of 37.18. On the other hand, he has bagged 34 wickets in 30 ODIs at an average of 39.52.

BCCI is looking for a high-profile candidate  with a proven track record of working well with young players.The idea is to build a robust crop of fast bowling bench strength, a strong point of the Indian team in recent times. The thinking is that the new bowling coach has to be able to inspire and mentor the younger crop of pace bowlers, such as Harshit Rana, Tushar Deshpande, and Mayank Yadav, to name a few.

While the conversations are underway, the final decision has not been made. Gambhir is set to start his stint as India’s head coach on July 27, when India will take on Sri Lanka in the first T20I of a three-match series. During the Sri Lanka tour, India will also face the Islanders in three ODIs.Indian captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who announced retirements for T20Is after the T20 World Cup 2024 final, are set to be rested for the white-ball tour and will make a comeback to the Indian team during a two-match Test series against Bangladesh in September.