BCCI shortlists five candidates for the post of Team India manager

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), reportedly conducted interviews for the post of Team India manager on Tuesday. Interviews were held for the 12 prospective candidates, out of which the BCCI is said to have shortlisted five individuals. This appointment is being regarded as an attempt by the Indian cricketing body to inculcate professionalism and efficiency within the team management. As per BCCI sources, the board will make the name of the new team manager public on Wednesday.

Quite a few feathers were ruffled during the time period of Anil Kumble’s unceremonious resignation from the head coach position and Ravi Shastri’s subsequent appointment to the post. In the wake of this bitter chaos, BCCI is looking to infuse some order in the methods of handling the team issues by appointing a team manager. The roles and responsibilities of the new administrative manager are slated to be on the lines of the Australian setup.

Why the need for a team manager?

Reportedly, Kumble had made his rift with skipper, Virat Kohli clear for quite some time before he put through his resignation. However, the then team manager, in his report of the Champions Trophy, failed to make any mention of alleged rift between the two. It only came to light after Kumble wrote it in his resignation that the Indian board had told him Kohli was not happy with his “style of coaching”.

Exasperated with the lack lustre modus operandi of the existing team management system, the board had put out a notice, seeking names of prospective candidates for the role. As per reports, there were just about 35 applications for the advertisement for the post, out of which BCCI shortlisted individuals for the interview process. “We have shortlisted thirteen names for now. We’ll interview them on Tuesday afternoon,” BCCI acting president CK Khanna had told ANI.

After the screening procedure, the board has now come up with a final list of five candidates whose resumes will be sent to BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary and Cricket of Administrators (CoA) chief Vinod Rai for their views.