VVS Laxman will be India men's head coach at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya. He will be supported by Sunil Joshi, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and the new fielding coach Subhadeep Ghosh.
The women's team will be coached by the regular India staff: head coach Amol Muzumdar, bowling coach Aavishkar Salvi and fielding coach Munish Bali. The announcement was made official on September 2 in a circular from India's ministry of youth affairs and sports.
As reported by Cricinfo earlier, the separate coaching group for the men's squad is required because India's T20I campaign at the Asian Games overlaps with the home ODI series against West Indies, which runs from September 27 to October 3. Cricket at the Asian Games will be held from September 17 to October 3, with India receiving a first-round bye and beginning their campaign with a quarter-final on September 28. The Gautam Gambhir-led coaching staff will be with the ODI squad in India.
Laxman had also been part of India's coaching group at the 2024 Asian Games, where the team won gold. He was head coach for India's T20I tour of Zimbabwe earlier this year, and has taken charge of several India assignments since 2022 while the senior coaching staff has been engaged elsewhere.
The Shreyas Iyer-led men's T20I team will be at full strength for the Asian Games - a distinct change from the previous edition - with his deputy Tilak Varma in the squad, alongside Jasprit Bumrah and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
India women, also the gold medal holders from 2024, will be led by Harmanpreet Kaur as captain and Smriti Mandhana as vice-captain.