VVS Laxman has won six bilateral series and lost one in seven assignments as India’s interim head coach, a record that extended on Saturday when India sealed their T20I series against Zimbabwe 2-0 in Harare with one match still to play.
India posted 219 for 5 before bowling Zimbabwe out for 129, winning by 90 runs. Ishan Kishan scored 81 off 44 balls and Tilak Varma made 60 not out. Debutant Yash Thakur took 2 for 30. The series had been settled in the first T20I on July 23, where India won by seven wickets, with 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi hitting a record 18-ball fifty.
Laxman has stepped in as India’s interim head coach across seven bilateral series since 2022, each time covering for the regular head coach who was rested. The record across those seven series:
India in bilateral series under VVS Laxman:
2022 Vs Ireland – Won 2-0.
2022 Vs Zimbabwe – Won 3-0.
2022 Vs New Zealand T20is – Won 1-0.
2022 Vs New Zealand ODIs – Lost 0-1.
2024 Vs Zimbabwe – Won 4-1.
2024 Vs South Africa – Won 3-1.
2026 Vs Zimbabwe – Leading 2*-0. pic.twitter.com/63J7OWZs5Z— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) July 25, 2026
2022, Ireland T20Is: India won 2-0. 2022, Zimbabwe ODIs: India won 3-0. 2022, New Zealand T20Is: India won 1-0. 2022, New Zealand ODIs: India lost 0-1. 2024, Zimbabwe T20Is: India won 4-1. 2024, South Africa T20Is: India won 3-1. 2026, Zimbabwe T20Is: India have sealed the series 2-0.
The only bilateral series loss across four years was in New Zealand in November 2022, an ODI assignment that came days after the T20 World Cup with a rotated squad under Shikhar Dhawan. Everything else has been a series win.
Gautam Gambhir was rested for this Zimbabwe assignment after overseeing India’s tours of Afghanistan and England. India had come off a 4-0 T20I series defeat and a 2-1 ODI loss in England. The Zimbabwe series, built around a young squad and Shreyas Iyer’s captaincy, was meant to restart momentum.
The Coach Who Never Walks In Cold
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What separates Laxman from every other interim head coach in this role is a structural advantage that sits outside tactics. As head of the National Cricket Academy, Laxman has watched these fringe and young players train for months before they fly out with him on tour. He knows their patterns under pressure, the shots they practice that are not yet ready for match conditions, the way they respond after a bad session. When Yash Thakur ran in to bowl his first over in international cricket on Saturday, Laxman was watching a player he already understood. Every other interim coach inherits a squad they are still learning. Laxman arrives knowing his squad at the level a coach usually reaches after several weeks together. In a three or five-match bilateral series, that head start is decisive from day one.
The players who break through in Laxman’s assignments are not random. Tilak Varma, Varun Chakravarty, Sanju Samson, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yash Thakur. Each came through the NCA pipeline before they delivered on tour. A coach who already knows what these players can do creates a different kind of confidence than one still working it out.
Really proud of our guys for the spirit with which they played this entire series. 3-1 win is a special effort, brilliantly led by @surya_14kumar , @IamSanjuSamson and Tilak were unstoppable with the bat and Varun Chakravarty was outstanding with the ball, the entire team the… pic.twitter.com/BeVe8zmZ5V
— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) November 16, 2024
After India’s 3-1 T20I series win in South Africa in November 2024, Laxman posted on X:
“Really proud of our guys for the spirit with which they played this entire series. 3-1 win is a special effort, brilliantly led by Suryakumar Yadav. Sanju Samson and Tilak were unstoppable with the bat and Varun Chakravarty was outstanding with the ball. The entire team, the way they played and enjoyed each others’ success, couldn’t be prouder of the boys. Congratulations on a memorable win.”
VVS Laxman, X (@VVSLaxman281), November 16, 2024
Captain Suryakumar Yadav added his own account of what that win took:
“Well done boys, congratulations to all. Everybody knows how difficult is to win series overseas. The last time when we came here, it was 1-1. This time, even after we led 2-1 in the series, we decided how to play the last match aggressively. Everybody stepped up. Credit goes to everybody. We won this series as a team.”
Suryakumar Yadav, dressing room address, Johannesburg, November 2024
Gambhir is expected to return as India’s head coach for the Test series against Sri Lanka, which begins on August 15. A third T20I in Zimbabwe on July 26 remains, officially a dead rubber. For Laxman, it is one more chance for an NCA product to put his hand up.
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