Mumbai: It’s mayhem all over. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been in doldrums for quite some time. Now, with the honourable Supreme Court of India deferring the next hearing to July 24, things look even more confusing hereon. “We have to wait again as there is still no clear directive from the court,” a top BCCI official told SportsCrunch on Friday.
The selection process of the coach of senior team exposed the lack of co-ordination and strategy of the three bodies – The Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), the BCCI officials (who are under serious scanner by the apex court) and the Committee of Administrators (COA). The announcement of Ravi Shastri being appointed coach till the 2019 ICC World Cup, along with Rahul Dravid (batting consultant overseas) and Zaheer Khan (bowling consultant) triggered more trouble for the board as they had to make several U-turns since Tuesday.
Though the CAC members, legendary Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman maintain that Dravid and Zaheer were never forced on Shastri as everyone was party to the decision, the controversy regarding the two selections refuses to die down. “Why would CAC choose the support staffs? It never happened in Indian cricket. A coach is free to pick his support staff otherwise problems are bound to crop up because of ego clashes,” the board official said.
The BCCI, it seems, is utterly disappointed with the turn of events and the role of the CAC in appointing coaches. Insiders feel it was CAC’s fault to force Anil Kumble when Virat Kohli had already made his choice clear in 2016. “When Ganguly was captain, Greg Chappell was given appointment on his recommendation. Mahendra Singh Dhoni too had his way regarding the coach, so why won’t Kohli get the coach who he is comfortable working with?” the official questioned.
The Board official also took a swipe at the COA attributing the confusion to members Vinod Rai, Vikram Limaye and Diana Eduljee. “There are too many authorities these days and so are the confusions. It is unprecedented in BCCI. This would continue for long as the lengthy legal procedure is underway,” the official said on the condition of anonymity.
However, the two top officials – Narayanswamy Srinivasan and Niranjan Shah – who have received Supreme Court notices for allegedly stalling Justice RM Lodha panel reforms and attending two BCCI meetings on May 7 and June 26 despite being disqualified, didn’t want to discuss the matter further saying, “Legal team will reply to the notice.”