Kolkata: While the entire nation waited to know who the next coach of the Indian team would be, the Cricket Advisory Committee comprising of Sourav Ganguly Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman decided to wait for a few more days and consult the Indian skipper Virat Kohli before picking the right man for the job.
The three member body interviewed five people on Monday- Ravi Shastri, Virender Sehwag, Lalchand Rajput, Tom Moody and Richard Pybus.
The former captain stated that it was actually the players who would have to work with the coach and so, the captain’s inputs had to be taken into consideration. Said Ganguly, “We will hold on for a few days on announcement of India’s next coach, need to talk to few other people specially the captain.”
The former Indian skipper also credited Kohli for staying out of the entire process. But he felt that the stylish right-hander is an important person to talk to in case of making such decisions. He said, “Have to give credit to Virat Kohli that he totally stayed out of it, didn’t give any input on names (for coach).”
He also added that the new coach will be appointed on a long-term basis and so the best person needed to be appointed for the job. “We are not in a hurry to announce the name of the coach and we are not only looking at the Sri Lanka series. Eventually the appointment will be for a long term and we need to take the best foot forward” he added.
Going into the interview, Ravi Shastri was the hot favourite to walk away with the job. The former team director hadn’t applied for the job initially but after the date was extended for inviting the applications, Shastri decided to submit his application. It is no secret that he enjoys the confidence of captain Kohli and this decision made by the CAC is bound to raise a few eyebrows.
After India’s painful defeat in the Champions Trophy final, Anil Kumble stepped down as the head coach of the team stating that his partnership with Kohli had become, ‘untenable’ and also that the Indian skipper had reservations about his, ‘style’ of coaching.
Ravi Shastri during his stint as the team director helped India reach the semi-final of the 2015 World Cup and the 2016 World and also beat South Africa in the Test series at home. As of now, we would have to wait for some more time to find out who gets the top job in Indian cricket.
(With inputs from ANI and Cricket Next)