India's coaching group is set to split into two after the third one-day international against New Zealand in Hamilton on Tuesday, with head coach Gautam Gambhir staying with the limited-overs side while other coaches move early to prepare the Test squad for the series that begins on November 19.
The details of the plan have not been fully finalised, but the broad shape is clear. Gambhir and spin-bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule are likely to travel to Mount Maunganui with the one-day squad for the last two matches of the five-match series. Batting coach Sitanshu Kotak and fast-bowling coach Morne Morkel will join the Test squad at a pre-series camp in Wellington, where the first Test begins on November 19.
Kotak outlined the plan at a pre-match press conference in Hamilton on Monday. "[The plan] can still change, but as far as I know, obviously Gautam will have to be here — the one-day World Cup is coming [in 2027], so he will be staying here and probably Sairaj will stay here," he said. "Me, Morne and some other staff will go to Wellington. That's the plan, but like I said, Gautam will make the final decision. It can change, but this is how it will likely be."
The split reflects the compressed nature of India's tour of New Zealand, in which a five-match one-day series and a two-match Test series overlap. The third one-day international in Hamilton on Tuesday is the last match the full squad plays together.
The fourth and fifth one-day matches follow at Mount Maunganui on November 13 and 15, while the Test squad begins its preparatory camp on November 11, giving it five to six practice sessions before the opening Test at the Basin Reserve in Wellington.
India lead the one-day series 2-0, after a five-wicket win in Auckland and a four-run victory on the DLS method in Wellington, where the hosts were bowled out for 134. The team will be keen to seal the series in Hamilton before the group divides, but the planning for the Test series has already begun in parallel.
The players will split along with the coaches. Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Anshul Kamboj, Mohammed Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav, who are all part of the Test squad, will skip the last two one-day internationals and travel to Wellington early instead. Their early departure is designed to give the Test group as much preparation time as possible in New Zealand conditions before the first Test.
Three fast bowlers from the one-day squad — likely Gurnoor Brar, Auqib Nabi and Arshdeep Singh — will stay back in New Zealand to help the Test squad as net bowlers and reserve players. Their presence will allow the Test batters to face quality pace bowling in practice, and give the team cover in case of injury during the series.
The arrangement is a practical response to a scheduling problem that modern cricket creates regularly. With international calendars crowded and formats overlapping, teams can no longer always travel and prepare as a single unit. The solution, increasingly adopted by leading teams, is to divide the coaching staff so that both the team in action and the team preparing for the next assignment have dedicated attention.
India have used similar arrangements before, but rarely with the head coach staying with the white-ball side while the Test preparation is delegated to senior assistants.
Gambhir's decision to remain with the one-day squad is shaped by the longer horizon. The next one-day World Cup is in 2027, and the head coach's presence with the 50-over side signals the importance India attach to building towards that tournament. The one-day series in New Zealand is part of that preparation, and Gambhir will want to oversee the final two matches in Mount Maunganui himself.
The Test series, meanwhile, will be prepared by Kotak and Morkel, two coaches with deep experience in red-ball cricket.
Morkel, the former South African fast bowler, has been working with India's pace attack, while Kotak, a former domestic batting stalwart, has been the batting coach. Their move to Wellington a week before the first Test gives them time to work with the Test specialists on the specific demands of New Zealand conditions — the swing and seam movement that the Basin Reserve is known for, and the adjustments in technique and temperament that Test cricket in New Zealand demands.
Kotak also addressed the question of whether the one-day batters would bring Test-match adjustments into white-ball cricket, noting that the players would keep the formats separate. He added that the challenging pitch conditions in New Zealand would provide useful preparation ahead of the Test series, and that the team would try to do as much preparation as the conditions permit, with a focus on fitness, practice and workload management.
The tour has already thrown up injury concerns for the hosts. New Zealand fast bowler Lockie Ferguson has been ruled out of the final two one-day internationals, and his replacement, Blair Tickner, has begun a seven-day stand-down period. The disruption to New Zealand's bowling attack adds another dimension to the remaining one-day matches, even as both teams look ahead to the Test series.
For India, the tour is a test of depth as much as of planning. The ability to field two competitive groups at once — one finishing a one-day series and the other preparing for a Test series — depends on a player pool broad enough to sustain both. The presence of young fast bowlers like Brar and Nabi as net bowlers and reserves, and the early release of five Test players from the one-day squad, shows how the selectors and the team management are trying to manage that balance.
The first Test at the Basin Reserve on November 19 will be the real measure of whether the split worked. By then, Kotak and Morkel will have had more than a week with the Test group, while Gambhir and Bahutule will join the Test contingent in Wellington the day after the fifth one-day international. The plan, as Kotak emphasised, can still change, and Gambhir will make the final decision.
But the direction is set: India will prepare for two formats at once, in two cities, with two coaching groups, and hope that the division of labour produces success in both.
(Reporting based on Cricinfo and NDTV Sports.)