Mumbai: India captain Rohit Sharma on Monday thanked his long-time friend Abhishek Nayar, days after the latter was removed as national team assistant coach by the BCCI.
Rohit, who roared back to form with an unbeaten 76 for Mumbai Indians in the IPL on Sunday, shared a photo of himself celebrating his fifty on Instagram and tagged Nayar in the caption.
“Thanks bro @ABHISHEKNAYAR,” the 37-year-old Rohit wrote on Monday.
“…just after the tour of Australia, there was a review meeting conducted by the BCCI. The top officials of the board, including secretary Devajit Saikia and vice-president Rajeev Shukla, were present along with important members associated with the Indian team, and the national selectors,” a BCCI source was quoted as saying by the news agency.
“On the sidelines of the meeting, a powerful member of the support staff expressed his apprehensions about Nayar’s presence and said how his being in the dressing room is proving to be counter-productive. “While the BCCI didn’t act immediately but they brought in Kotak, the former Saurashtra run-accumulator. It was a way of sidelining Nayar during the Champions Trophy,” the source added.
Now, Rohit Sharma has sent a two-word message to Abhishek Nayar days after his sacking. On his Instagram story, the Indian cricket team captain wrote: “Thanks Bro”. Along with it, Rohit shared a picture of himself from the Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings IPL 2025 match on Sunday. After a string of poor scores, Rohit slammed 76* off 45 balls.
According to a report in Cricbuzz, Rohit had been working with Nayar even during the IPL last week. In fact, they have been collaborating from before the IPL. Nayar has now joined the Kolkata Knight Riders’ support staff.
Nayar and former Netherlands star Ryan Ten Doeschate joined Team India’s support staff as assistant coaches during the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka last year. Nayar and Doeschate were also assistant coaches at KKR and worked with Gambhir and won the 2024 IPL title with him and captain Shreyas Iyer.
