Ravi Shastri was on Tuesday appointed team India’s coach. (Source: PTI)
Minutes after reports of Ravi Shastri’s appointment as India head coach, Board of Control for Cricket in India has denied former team director’s return to the helm. BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary said discussions are still on and no decision has been made yet. The CAC had on Monday interviewed Ravi Shastri, Virender Sehwag, Tom Moody, Richard Pybus and Lalchand Rajput for the post. It had also decided to announce the name of India coach on July 10 but maintained silence after the interviews of the candidates. But, the Committee of Administrators (CoA) head Vinod Rai asked the CAC to announce the name of India coach on Tuesday.
The post of the coach was vacant after former India captain Anil Kumble resigned after “differences” with captain Virat Kohli. He was the coach of the Indian team for one year and was asked to continue till India’s tour of West Indies which concluded on Sunday but the former spinner decided to step down after the ICC Champions Trophy 2017.
Shastri has earlier held the position of Team Director in the Indian team after India’s tour of England in 2014 in which India lost the Test series 3-1. But, under him, the team reached the semi-final of 2015 ODI Wolrd Cup and later the semi-final of World T20 2016, which was his last assignment with the team as Team Director.
India’s next assignment will be a full tour to Sri Lanka in which they play three Tests, five one-day internationals and one T20 international. India also have a scheduled tour to South Africa after an home ODI series against Australia.
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The new coach of the Indian team will be at the position till the 2019 World Cup. India reached the semis in 2015 and would look to post a good show in the prestigious tournament in England. The new coach will need to build a team around the current core group of players and this will be a big task for both him and captain Virat Kohli.
Kumble had a great record as coach, winning every bilateral series as the coach and only lost the Champions Trophy last month. In the final, India lost to Pakistan which ended their reign as the champions of the tournament which India had won under MS Dhoni in 2013.
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