Former India cricketer Ravi Shastri has been appointed as the head coach of the Indian Men’s senior cricket team for a second successive term. The three-member Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) headed by Kapil Dev interviewed the shortlisted candidates and made the announcement in a media briefing in Mumbai.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Shastri will be 59 – one short of the age-restriction in place for the role of the head coach – when his term ends in 2021.
- The amount of international cricket Shastri has played, the time spent assisting the Indian team, his seniority and even his commentary stint helped him surpass all others in the fray.
- This will be Shastri’s fourth stint with the national team.
Ravi Shastri Head Coach of Indian Cricket Team
The BCCI has updated the procedure of hiring the support staff as well as the head coach, along with batting coach, bowling coach, fielding coach, physiotherapist, strength and conditioning coach and also the administrative manager. The time limit for the application for all the roles is on July 30, at 5 pm.
“Number three was Tom Moody, number two was Mike Hesson. Number one is Ravi Shastri as all of you were expecting… (But) It was a very close race,” said Kapil at the press conference to announce the decision here.Once Kohli openly backed Shastri’s candidature at the pre-departure media conference before the West Indies tour, it was expected that the former India captain would be a favorite to retain the position.
Among all the candidates, Shastri’s record was unmatched as the team reached the No.1 ranking in Test matches under his guidance and won a series in Australia for the first time in 71 years.
Earlier before Ravi Shastri was selected as the head coach in July 2017, the BCCI had given out nine-point eligibility criteria which were short of focus as well as clarity. Now this time, it is only a three-point criteria for entirely the coaching roles comprising head coach besides the spots in the batting, bowling as well as fielding department.
The BCCI in a recent statement said, “The current coaching staff of Team India will get an automatic entry in the recruitment process,”
On the other hand, the Kapil Dev-led ad-hoc committee has also appeared as the favourite to pick the succeeding national coach but an ultimate decision on panel creation would be taken only after the following Supreme Court hearing.
Former players who can become Indian cricket team’s next head coach
The Committee of Administrators (CoA) consecutively Indian cricket had requested the court for instructions and on the continuation of Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) including Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly as well as VVS Laxman.
Tom Moody: Although there seems to be a clear preference of former Indian players in the head coach’s position, Moody has the required credentials to take Virat Kohli & Co. to the new height if he gets appointed as the head coach.
Virender Sehwag: The name of Virender Sehwag was among the top ones which were discussed for the vacant head coach’s position when Kumble’s tenure had come to an end after the conclusion of the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017.
Trevor Bayliss: A change for the World Cup-winning coach with England might be on the cards, especially considering his target with Eoin Morgan & Co. has been fulfilled.
Gary Kirsten: The 2011 World Cup-winning coach was interested in the post of Indian women’s national team and had submitted his application too. It was a ‘conflict of interest’ scenario as he was also interested in a South African domestic team, which led the South African going empty-handed.
Mahela Jayawardene: The Sri Lankan had earlier denied the opportunity to work with his national team for the World Cup as the project “lacked clarity”.
On the other hand, if there is no directive from the court on CAC, the CoA might be left with no other alternative but task the Dev-led committee with picking the national coach, a move that may possibly all over again split the SC-appointed board.
The criteria for selecting head coach is that the head coach should have coached a Test playing nation for at least of two years or three years with an assistant member/A team/IPL side. The candidate must have also played 30 Tests or 50 ODIs.
The criteria on the other hand remain the same for batting, bowling as well as fielding coach apart from the number of games played. The three staff members should have played minimum 10 Tests or 25 ODIs and should be less than 60 years of age.
The existing support staff which includes Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun, batting coach Sanjay Bangar as well as fielding coach R Sridhar can also re-apply but it seems to be like that the team is set to have a new trainer and physio after the exit of Shankar Basu and also Patrick Farhart afterward the India’s semi-final departure in the World Cup.
