Sulakshan Kulkarni takes helm as Oman cricket team's new head coach

Sulakshan Kulkarni has taken over as the head coach of the Oman men's cricket team, replacing Duleep Mendis, who steps down after 14 years. Kulkarni, a former Mumbai wicketkeeper-batter, brings vast experience from Indian domestic cricket, having served as head coach of Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh, and Maharashtra. He previously guided Mumbai to its 40th Ranji Trophy title in 2012-13 and was Oman's deputy head coach since July 2025. Sulakshan Kulkarni's got a wealth of experience, isn't it? With a coaching stint spanning multiple Indian domestic teams like Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha, and Mumbai, he's bound to bring some great insights to Oman. As a player, he had a decent run, scoring 3332 first-class runs with 6 hundreds and 13 fifties. Guess his experience will definitely help Oman take their game to the next level. Oman's next assignment was to be the ICC CWC League 2 matches in Nepal next week, along with UAE and Nepal, but those games have been postponed because of the air strikes in West Asia which has led to cancellation of thousands of flights. Kulkarni's main task is to lead Oman towards qualification for the 50-over World Cup in South Africa next year. Oman's immediate assignments include the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 in Nepal, which has been postponed due to air strikes in West Asia.