Sourav Ganguly backs Virat Kohli on India coach selection process

Virat Kohli has backed Ravi Shastri to continue as India head coach after his extended tenure ends with the tour of the West Indies beginning later this week.

Sourav Ganguly retired from international cricket in 2008

Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly was part of the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) which picked Shastri as the head coach in 2017 (File Photo)

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly on Wednesday said as leader the of the team Virat Kohli has got every right to voice his opinion in the coach selection process.

In his first media interaction after India’s World Cup semifinal exit, Kohli backed Ravi Shastri to continue as India head coach after his extended tenure ends with the tour of the West Indies beginning later this week.

“He is the captain. He has got every right to say,” Ganguly said referring Kohli’s comment at the pre-departure media interaction in Mumbai on Monday.

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Ganguly was part of the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) which picked Shastri as the head coach in 2017. The other members were Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman.

This time the CAC comprising Kapil Dev, Anushuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy will pick the coach. The application deadline ended on Tuesday and incumbent Shastri gets an automatic entry in the selection process.

The Kapil-led committee had also picked the Indian women’s coach, W V Raman, in December.

Ganguly also spoke about the eight-month suspension handed to talented opener Prithvi Shaw for failing a dope test after the 19-year-old “inadvertently ingested a prohibited substance, which can be commonly found in cough syrups”.

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“A cough syrup can have different compositions. I don’t know what exactly happened with Prithvi Shaw,” he added.

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