Mumbai: The war has begun. Following former India Team Director Ravi Shastri’s comments that Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) member Sourav Ganguly was ‘disrespectful’ by not being present for his interview process, Ganguly left nothing under the wraps by countering the former all-rounder’s claims in media. India’s one of the most successful captains had on Tuesday said that Anil Kumble was the best choice for India coach’s post.
It may be recalled that Ganguly excused himself from the interview process as he had to attend a Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) working committee meeting of which he is the president.
“I am extremely saddened and disappointed by Ravi Shastri’s comment. I was reading it in couple of newspapers in last three to four days but chose to ignore it. Especially from someone who has been in BCCI committee for 20 years…Also, I had informed BCCI (the Board of Control for Cricket in India) and attended the CAB Working Committee meeting in between the interview session,” Ganguly told the media in Kolkata on Wednesday.
Shastri also advised Ganguly to “next time be in the meeting when someone is being interviewed for such a top post”, which also didn’t go down well with the former India captain. “If he was so keen to become India’s head coach then he should have been present physically during the session rather than spending holidays in Thailand,” the Prince of Kolkata said.
Meanwhile, it was Shastri who made comments publicly after the interview that Ganguly wasn’t present in the room to interview him. Having said that he had the board’s permission to skip the interview for CAB meeting, the 44-year-old former skipper made it clear that it wasn’t him who was instrumental in not picking Shastri as India’s head coach.
“I feel that the comments are very personal. He is residing in a fools’ world if he thinks he is not the coach of India because of me. There are people who are more reputed in the committee than I am,” the Bengal southpaw countered Shastri’s claims.
However, Anil Kumble is gearing up for his first tour with the team when the team leaves for the Caribbean islands for four Test matches and a couple of practice matches in a few days. The Tests will be played in Antigua and Barbuda, Jamaica, St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago.