Update: 7:16 am – The Board of Control for Cricket in India has deferred naming the chief coach for the senior Indian cricket team. What turned out to be an anti-climax of sorts, Sourav Ganguly of the Cricket Advisory Committee told reporters on Monday evening that they were in “no hurry” to name Anil Kumble’s replacement. (HIGHLIGHTS)
Five candidates were interviewed on Monday. Virender Sehwag, who was only one who turned up personally, spent close to an hour with the high-profile CAC that also has VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar as members. This panel had dramatically named Kumble as the head coach in June last year.
Two foreign coaches — Tom Moody and Richard Pybus — were interviewed by the panel on Monday. West Indian aspirant Phil Simmons wasn’t interviewed. Lalchand Rajput is the third Indian in fray.
SETBACK FOR RAVI SHASTRI
The postponement will come as a setback for Ravi Shastri, who was being widely tipped to become the head coach again. Shastri, apparently a Virat Kohli favourite, was interviewed on Skype. Last year, too, Shastri had skipped a front-to-front interview with the CAC.
Not turning up personally for the chief coach’s job was one of the factors that went against Shastri. The former all-rounder and Ganguly were involved a bitter war of words.
On Monday at the BCCI’s Cricket Centre, Ganguly said the committee wanted to speak to Kohli before arriving at a final decision. “Everyone must be on the same page,” said Ganguly. “We will need a few more days,” he added. It is clear that Shastri was not an automatic choice.
KUMBLE PIPPED SHASTRI
Shastri was the odds-on-favourite to win back his position. He was Indian cricket team director for two years (2014-16). Shastri did not get an automatic extension from the CAC last year and Anil Kumble, a late entrant, was named coach for a year.
Kumble’s contract expired at the end of the ICC Champions Trophy final where India were mauled by Pakistan at The Oval on June 18. Apparently, the CAC and BCCI officials failed to strike a compromise between Kohli and Kumble during the Champions Trophy.
Shastri did not apply for the coach’s job when the BCCI first advertised on June 1. After Kumble withdrew from the race of becoming coach on June 20 and the BCCI advertised for fresh candidates on June 23, Shastri jumped in.
Kumble refused to carry on as chief coach after reports of a ‘rift’ with Kohli emerged. Kumble, during whose coaching tenure India won 12 Tests to become the No. 1 Test side, expressed his shock when he learnt that the team did not like his presence in the dressing room.
The Indian captain and some teammates were unhappy with Kumble’s ways of handling the team and complained to the BCCI mandarins. The captain and coach were hardly on talking terms during the Champions Trophy.
Sanjay Bangar stepped in as coach on the tour of the West Indies. India won the ODI series but lost the one-off T20 on Sunday.
-HT
