Shreyas Iyer for Punjab Kings Shubman Gill Gautam Gambhir. Image Credits: AP./AFP
Former Indian cricketer Sairaj Bahutule has been appointed as the spin bowling coach of Team India ahead of their upcoming one-off Test match against Afghanistan. The 53-year-old recently served the Punjab Kings in the IPL 2026 season under the same capacity.
He has previously served the Kerala and Bengal cricket teams in Indian domestic cricket as well as the Rajasthan Royals franchise in IPL in various coaching stints.
Former Indian bowler to join India team as spin coach
Sairaj Bahutule has joined the Indian cricket team in Chandigarh as their new spin-bowling coach ahead of the team’s one-off Test against Afghanistan. The 53-year-old will also work with the Indian players in white-ball cricket going forward, starting with India’s three-match ODI series against the visitors later this month.
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He recently worked with the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal, Harpreet Brar, Praveen Dubey, Vishal Nishad among others as the spin bowling coach of the Punjab Kings franchise in the high-scoring IPL 2026 season.
Bahutule will join the Indian support staff, currently helmed by head coach Gautam Gambhir to join batting coach Sitanshu Kotak, fast bowling coach Morne Morkel, fielding coach T Dilip and assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate.
Who is Sairaj Bahutule?
Sairaj Bahutule is a former Indian domestic cricketer who played for various teams like Mumbai, Andhra, Assam, Maharashtra and Vidarbha.
He also played two Tests and eight ODI matches for Team India, all sporadically between the years 1997 and 2003.
Overall, the wily leg-spinner played 188 first class matches, picking up an astonishing haul of 630 wickets at an average of 26. He also collected 207 white-ball wickets in 155 List A and T20 games combined. Bahutule also scored 6,176 runs with the bat in 242 first class innings at an average of 31.83 with nine hundreds and 26 half-centuries.
As a coach, Sairaj Bahutule has served Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, as well as Kerala and Bengal men’s teams in Indian domestic cricket. He also joined the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and served as support staff for several India A assignments.
India to face Afghanistan on Test return
After lifting the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 and playing the IPL 2026 season, both at home, Team India will now make its return to Test cricket after a gap of over six months.
Under the leadership of Shubman Gill, the Indian team will take on Afghanistan in a one-off Test at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in New Chandigarh. The match will be played between June 6 and June 10 later this week.
India’s home series will also consist of three ODI matches against the visitors, which will feature the return of legendary batters like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
While the Test match will not form a part of the ongoing 2025-27 WTC cycle, it serves as a crucial stepping stone for Shubman Gill’s troops ahead of their upcoming all-important fixtures against New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Australia.
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