Reports: Munish Bali roped in as India's fielding coach for the upcoming New Zealand series

It has been reported that Munish Bali has been roped in as Team India’s fielding coach for the upcoming away bilateral series against New Zealand starting next Friday, November 18. NCA chief VVS Laxman will be donning the hat of the head coach for this white-ball series as regular coach Rahul Dravid has been rested.

Apart from Bali, former left-handed middle-order batter Hrishikesh Kanitkar and ex-leggie Sairaj Bahutule have been added to the support staff as batting and bowling coach respectively. All three of them are based in Bengaluru’s National Cricket Academy (NCA) with Laxman at the helm of affairs.

Meanwhile, Munish Bali was also reportedly a part of the Indian squad for the away T20Is against Ireland earlier this year, and briefly for the England series before coming back for the home series against that preceded the ongoing T20 World Cup. "All three will assist Laxman in New Zealand," said a BCCI official as quoted as saying by NDTV.

Hardik Pandya to lead India in New Zealand

The Indian team will be led by Hardik Pandya as the senior players including the likes of regular captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul have been rested. Rohit and Virat will be back in action during the next month’s away series against Bangladesh.

This will be the Men in Blue’s first international assignment after their semifinal ouster from the T20 World Cup 2022. They seemed to be peaking at the right time, but had a completely off day against a formidable England who decimated the Indian team by 10 wickets with four overs to spare.

Now, it remains to be seen whether the experimentations in the shortest format will start happening with immediate effect taking the next T20 World Cup into consideration which is scheduled to be played in the USA and the West Indies in 2024.

Young pacer Umran Malik has been included in the Indian squad for the upcoming series and all eyes will be on his performances in New Zealand conditions. Meanwhile, other senior players including the likes of pacer Mohammed Shami, offie Ravichandran Ashwin, and, wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik are also not a part of this series.