VVS Laxman takes charge in Sano as India split their squads across two continents

VVS Laxman takes charge of India for the Suzuki Cup T20I in Sano on Tuesday while Gautam Gambhir stays at home preparing a different India squad for the West Indies

India's one-off T20I against Japan at the Sano International Cricket Ground opens a fortnight in which the BCCI fields two senior men's sides at the same time, under two head coaches, on two continents.

Laxman, who heads the board's Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, was named coach of the Asian Games squad, and Tuesday's fixture in Tochigi Prefecture falls to him as that campaign's warm-up.

Gambhir, India's all-format head coach, remains with the senior side for a three-match ODI series against West Indies that starts in Thiruvananthapuram on 27 September. The Asian Games knockout rounds begin the next day, so the two assignments overlap almost completely.

Two India sides, one fortnight

Shreyas Iyer captains the team in Japan, with Tilak Varma as his deputy, and the party flies on to Aichi after the match rather than returning home.

At home, Shubman Gill leads the ODI side against West Indies across Thiruvananthapuram, Guwahati and Mullanpur. Iyer is due back for the five-match T20I series that follows from 6 October, three days after the Asian Games gold medal match.

Laxman is assisted in Japan by Sunil Joshi, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Subhadeep Ghosh.

A coach who has done this before

Laxman ran the side that won cricket's gold medal at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, the first time the men's tournament had been held since 2014.

That title was settled without a finish. Afghanistan had reached 112 for 5 in 18.2 overs when rain ended the gold medal match, and India were awarded the medal as the higher-seeded side.

He has taken the senior team on the road before in Gambhir's absence, and his day job at the Centre of Excellence puts him alongside most of this squad's younger players already.

Japan first, in Sano

Japan are led by Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming, their leading run-scorer in T20Is, and have named a 15-man squad for what is the first senior meeting between the two countries in any format.

The match carries the Suzuki Cup name and marks 75 years of diplomatic relations between India and Japan. BCCI honorary secretary Devajit Saikia called it "a significant moment for cricket" when the fixture was confirmed this month.

It is being televised in India on Star Sports Network and streamed on FanCode, with play scheduled to start at 9:30 AM IST.

Then the knockouts in Aichi

The Asian Games cricket competition starts on 24 September at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin, with India entering at the quarter-final stage on 28 September against the runner-up from a group containing Afghanistan, Japan and Nepal.

The semi-finals are on 1 October and the gold medal match on 3 October. India are defending champions.

Japan, who qualified as hosts, start in that same group, so a second meeting with India inside a week is available to them if they finish as runners-up.

The scheduling is what forced the split: India's first knockout game and the first ODI in Kerala fall a day apart, with the ODI series running to 3 October.

The women are already in a final

Amol Muzumdar's squad plays Sri Lanka Women for gold at Korogi Sports Park on Tuesday, a little over an hour after play begins in Sano.

That side travelled with its own staff, bowling coach Aavishkar Salvi and fielding coach Munish Bali among them, and has been in Japan since the group stage.

India hold both Asian Games titles from Hangzhou, and the women can keep theirs before the men have played a knockout match.

Play at the Sano International Cricket Ground begins at 9:30 AM IST on Tuesday, Laxman's first match in charge of India since Hangzhou.

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