Head Coach selection by BCCI:- The Board or Cricket in India (BCCI) has shortlisted six candidates as the probables for the high-profile post of the Indian Cricket Head Coach. The Cricket Advisory Committee led by former Indian cricketer Kapil Dev has also shortlisted incumbent Ravi Shastri who faced heat after India’s ouster in the semi- final of the World Cup.
The six candidates shortlisted includes the former New Zealand coach Mike Hesson, ex-Australia all-rounder and Sri Lanka coach Tom Moody, former West Indies all-rounder and Afghanistan coach Phil Simmons, ex-India team manager Lalchand Rajput, former India fielding coach Robin Singh and Ravi Shastri.
“The board have finalised a list of six names based on their experience and qualifications for the post. All the six interviews will be held in Mumbai with different time slots for all the six candidates. The interviews will begin in morning and will go on till 5:30pm in the evening on August 16,” a senior BCCI official said.
The CAC advisory committee will also be chaired by former Indian cricketers Anshuman Gaekwad and Women team’s captain Shantha Rangaswamy. All the shortlisted candidates will give a presentation to the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) and the final decision will be announced by the end of this week or early next week.
On the preference to Ravi Shastri in the run for the Head coach, a BCCI official said, “Of course, Ravi Shastri at the moment has advantage over other candidates particularly because the ICC T20 World Cup is about an year away and perhaps, it is good for the team to continue the same coach-captain duo i.e., Shastri and Virat Kohli,”
Earlier, even CAC member Gaekwad had said that Shastri was likely to get a fresh contract. The former India player was picked as coach after Anil Kumble had resigned in 2017.
Before leaving for the West Indies tour Indian skipper had also put his opinion at the conference that he wanted Ravi Shastri to continue as the Head Coach but was soon criticized by some former cricketers. CAC will only select the head coach and the decision taken by them will obviously be impactful. The collective opinions of the three former cricketers will decide the fate of the Indian Team’s next head coach.
Among the shortlisted candidates, former Australian all rounder Tom Moody has had a successful stint with the IPL team Sunrisers Hyderabad as under him the team won the title in 2016 and were the runner- ups in 2018.
Lalchand Rajput coached the Indian team in 2007 T20 world cup that Indian team won in the inaugural season. Robin has been an assistant coach with the Mumbai Indians for a long time.
Mike Hesson who just parted ways with IPL team Kings XI Punjab had also coached New Zealand national team for six years, leading them to the memorable 2015 Cricket World Cup final. Robin Singh, the former Indian all-rounder, was the fielding coach of India in 2007.
Former West Indian all rounder Phil Simmons has had a successful run as the head coach Ireland and Afghanistan. He also led West Indies team to win their World Cup T20 title in 2016.
Apart from the Head Coach selection, MSK Prasad led selection committee will be involved in the selection of the other vacant posts. They will be responsible for conducting the interviews and analyzing the profiles of the contenders for the next slot of the support staff.
Meanwhile, the current support staff comprising of Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun, batting coach Sanjay Bangar and fielding coach R Sridhar had been given a 45-days of extension for the ongoing tour of the Indian team to West Indies.
