Kolkata: After all the drama and uncertainty surrounding the appointment of the new coach of the Indian team, the Cricket Advisory Committee on Tuesday went ahead and named Ravi Shastri as the new Indian coach.
The decision which was expected to be made on Monday was deferred because the CAC members felt that they needed to talk to the Indian captain before making an official announcement. But after Committee of Administrators chief Vinod Rai asked them to make the decision by Tuesday evening, the three-member body decided to rest their faith on Ravi Shastri.
Veteran left-arm Pacer Zaheer Khan has been named as the bowling coach while the legendary Rahul Dravid, who is the coach of the Indian U-19 side and the India A team would also be batting coach for the senior team for overseas tours. The team already has a full-time batting coach in the form of Sanjay Bangar
The CAC had interviewed Shastri, Virender Sehwag, Tom Moody, Lalchand Rajput and Richard Pybus on Monday.
Shastri was one of the favourites to get the job as he enjoyed the confidence of skipper Virat Kohli. But after the decision was put on hold yesterday, many thought that the former Indian all-rounder was out of the race, because if he was the choice of the CAC, he would have been named as the coach on Monday itself, given the excellent rapport that he shares with Virat Kohli. Instead sources suggested that the CAC was impressed with Virender Sehwag’s vision for the team in the coming years and he was in the pole position to get the job.
But Shastri’s appointment puts to rest all such speculations and also makes things clear about his stay at the helm of affairs till the 2019 World Cup.
After India’s painful loss to Pakistan in the Champions Trophy final, Anil Kumble stepped down as the head coach citing his ‘untenable’ relationship with the Indian captain and also that Kohli had reservations about his ‘style’ of working.
Ravi Shastri hadn’t applied for the job initially but did so after the date for inviting the applications was extended to July 9. The 55-year is an active cricket commentator and had served as the director of the Indian team before.
Under him the men in blue went on to reach the semi-final of the 2015 World Cup and the 2016 World T20. Also, under him the Indian team blanked the Aussies 3-0 Down Under in the shortest format of the game and also beat South Africa by the same margin at home in Test cricket.
The former Indian all-rounder had applied for the job in 2016 but he was involved in an ugly verbal spat with former Indian skipper and CAC member Sourav Ganguly and at the end, former leg-spinner Anil Kumble was given the job.
This decision would be welcomed by skipper Kohli as earlier he had made it clear that he wanted Shastri to be the coach of the team. Shastri’s first assignment with the Indian team would be the tour of Sri Lanka which would comprise of three tests, five ODI’S and a one-off T20 match. The tour is scheduled to get underway from the 26th of July.