After Afghanistan, former Indian cricketer Lalchand Rajput to coach Assam

Former India opener and India's 2007 World T20-winning coach Lalchand Rajput, will coach Assam, the team he played for after ending his stint with Mumbai in the 1990s

Former India opener and India's 2007 World T20-winning coach Lalchand Rajput, will coach Assam, the team he played for after ending his stint with Mumbai in the 1990s.

The erstwhile Mumbai skipper, who played for the northeast team from 1991-92 to 1993-94 and served as coach in 1999, will replace ex-India left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi for the forthcoming domestic season.

More recently, Rajput coached Afghanistan and had also applied for the Team India chief coach's post.

"It will be a big challenge for me as Assam's performance was not up to the mark last season. Also, Assam Cricket Association has decided not to field any guest players so that local players can be promoted this year," Rajput told mid-day yesterday.

Rajput, who guided Afghanistan to Test status recently, has a task on hand as Assam is grouped with teams like Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Railways and Hyderabad. Rajput will join his new team on Friday, barely two weeks before Assam's first Ranji Trophy match of the season. "Yes, the players are unknown to me, but I will use my knowledge and coaching experience to get best out of them," Rajput added.

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