VVS Laxman will reportedly replace Team India's head coach Rahul Dravid for the T20I series against South Africa. While Dravid will continue to coach the Test team that is set to face England, it is believed that the Men in Blue will use two different squads for the two series.

According to a report by Inside Sport, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will select two different squads for the series against South Africa, and the tour of England after. The India vs South Africa series will begin with five T20Is, with the first set to take place on June 9, a little more than a week after IPL 2022 ends.

Laxman is presently working as the chief of the National Cricket Academy (NCA). Earlier this year, he had assisted the India U-19 team which won the Junior World Cup in West Indies.

“We now have a warm-up game against Leicestershire on June 24 before the Birmingham test. Rahul Dravid and 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 T20’s," a top BCCI official was quoted as saying by InsideSport.in.

Interestingly, Dravid was also NCA's director when he took over the role on a stand-in basis for the Sri Lanka tour last year. He was named Team India's head coach after the end of Ravi Shastri's stint. This will be the first time when Laxman will be working with the national team. A veteran coach, Laxman had started his coaching career with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) from IPL 2013. He worked as SRH's mentor for 9 years before stepping down to take over as NCA's chief.

During an interview in December 2021, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had revealed that Laxman wanted to work with Team India. "We had Rahul in mind for a long period of time, both me and Jay, but he wasn't agreeing because of the time away from home [and] because doing a national team's job is [about being] on the road for about 8-9 months in a year and he has two young children," Ganguly said.“He was keen on the national team job, but that couldn’t be worked out. But somewhere down the line, he would have that opportunity to coach the national team."

The white-ball team is scheduled to host South Africa in 5 T20Is from June 9 to 19.

Tags :Vvs LaxmanRahul DravidSouth Africa tour of India 2022