Amid speculations over head coach Gautam Gambhir's future in the Test format, BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla has confirmed that the 44-year-old will continue to lead the team as the red-ball coach.
His response came after reports indicated a talk between the BCCI and batting great VVS Laxman for the role.
"I want to make it very clear regarding the speculation circulating in the media about head coach Gautam Gambhir. The BCCI secretary (Devajit Saikia) has also made it very clear that there is no plan to remove Gambhir or bring in a new head coach for India," Shukla said.
Earlier, Saikia had denied rumours that the Board was actively seeking a new coach to replace Gambhir, who was appointed head coach for all formats in July 2024.
"This is totally incorrect news going on. This is totally speculative news. Some very reputed news agencies are also flashing the news. There is no truth to it. BCCI straightaway denies. People can think all they want, but BCCI has not taken any steps. This is somebody's figment of imagination; there is no truth in it, and I cannot say anything except that this is factually incorrect and baseless news," Saikia said.
With the BCCI top brass throwing their weight behind Gambhir, it is safe to say that the former opener's position is secure for the time being, with his contract expected to run until at least 2027.
The speculation surrounding Gambhir's future intensified following India's recent Test series losses, which led to an extensive performance review by the BCCI.
Under him, India started off well with a 2-0 series win against Bangladesh at home, but suffered back-to-back series defeat against New Zealand and Australia.
Thereafter, they drew the away series against England 2-2 followed by a 2-0 series win at home against the West Indies. However, India suffered one of their worst home Test series defeats, losing 0-2 to South Africa, their second whitewash at home within a year.
The BCCI had made changes to the support staff in April 2025, sacking assistant coach Abhishek Nayar, fielding coach T Dilip, and trainer Soham Desai following the team's poor performance in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Down Under.
Gambhir's next major challenge will be defending the T20 World Cup with a new-look team led by Suryakumar Yadav.
India, drawn alongside Pakistan, Namibia, the Netherlands and the USA in Group A, will kick off their campaign against USA in the tournament opener in Mumbai on February 7.
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