Vikram Rathour pips Sanjay Bangar, set to be appointed batting coach

India’s overseas Test batting issues and a shaky middle-order for the World Cup had put a question mark over Bangar’s role. He had been appointed batting coach in 2014.

Vikram Rathour is set to be the new batting coach. (Express Photo)

Vikram Rathour is set to become the new batting coaching of the Indian team after he pipped the incumbent, Sanjay Bangar. Following the support staff selection interviews conducted by the MSK Prasad-led selection committee, Rathour topped the grade for the position of the batting coach ahead of Bangar and former England batsman Mark Ramprakash. Bharat Arun and R Sridhar have been retained as the bowling and fielding coaches respectively, while Girish Dongre is going to be the team’s new administrative manager replacing Sunil Subramaniam. Nitin Patel is set to be back as the team physio, as he edged past Andrew Leipus.

India’s overseas Test batting issues and a shaky middle-order for the World Cup had put a question mark over Bangar’s role. He had been appointed batting coach in 2014.

On Thursday, at the press conference in Mumbai, Prasad was asked if Bangar had been made the scapegoat for the World Cup loss. “Let anybody say anything. In the most honest and fair manner we have conducted the interviews and we felt that Vikram Rathour was (the) first preference for us,” the chief selector replied.

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He, however, didn’t deny the batting uncertainties. “It’s a mixed one and looking at the two T20 World Cups and the Test Championship, we thought that there should be some freshness to the batting mindset of the unit and that is the reason why we have taken this call.”

Rathour, a former India opener who played six Tests and seven ODIs, doesn’t have any international coaching experience.

The shortlisted candidates on the order of priority.

Conflict quagmire

Earlier this year, Rathour’s appointment as the India U-19 team batting coach had been put on hold after his potential conflict-of-interest was brought to the notice of the Committee of Administrators. The 50-year-old is the brother-in-law of current India U-19 national selector Ashish Kapoor. The BCCI chief executive Rahul Johri, however, defended the selection. “So this was discussed at the CoA meeting also. Now, his brother-in-law is the chief selector of the junior team, this is batting coach of the men’s senior team. So we don’t think there’s any conflict,” Johri said. Every selected candidate will have to submit a ‘no-conflict’ declaration before taking up the job.

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The shortlisted candidates on the order of priority.

Rhodes snubbed

The selection committee’s gradation list for the position of the fielding coach had Sridhar as the first preference followed by Abhay Sharma and T Dilip. The greatest outfielder in the modern era, Jonty Rhodes, was an applicant, but he didn’t even make the gradation shortlist. Five national selectors, with 13 Tests and 31 ODIs between them, didn’t consider Rhodes good enough. “R Sridhar is one of the best fielding coaches in the world today. He has transformed this (team) into a wonderful fielding unit,” said Prasad.

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