CAC to meet coaches for final round of selection post Independence Day

There is a renowned saying, “Tomorrow never comes.” Well, the selection of head coach seems to be never-ending hunt by the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC). There has been a lot of postponements and now there is another twist in the tale.

Selecting a head coach has been hogging the limelight for quite some time now. In fact, current head coach Ravi Shastri’s stint at the helm should have been completed 40 days ago, if the selection was done on the right time. But, they have given an extension of 45 days after Shastri’s 2-year-contract expired. The selection process was supposed to happen on August 13 and 14, on the eve of Independence Day.

According to the insiders, it wouldn’t be happening on the scheduled date as a bit of paperwork is pending. The final rounds to select head coach for the Men in Blue would only post Independence Day. “There is a bit of paperwork pending before the three-member panel of CAC — Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy — take up the final round. The pending work would be finished only after August 15 and the CAC could meet the coaches only then,” the source is quoted by BCCI as said to the India.com.

Selection committee to turn a deaf ear to Virat Kohli’s opinion

Also, the source had confirmed that only half a dozen coaches could make it to the final round. So, it would require only one day finalizing the head coach. The source also said that skipper Virat Kohli’s opinion wouldn’t be given much priority. Before leaving to the Caribbean islands, the skipper gave his opinion about that Shastri is the right one to coach the Men in Blue.

“With Ravi bhai, all of us have a great camaraderie, everyone in the team shares mutual respect (with him). And we have done really well together as a group. Yeah, we will definitely be very happy if he is continuing as a coach, but as I said it is upon the CAC to seek my advice or opinion if they want,” Kohli said at the pre-departure press conference for the tour of USA and West Indies.

But the BCCI official condemned and opined that skipper’s intervention wouldn’t count in the selection of coach. “Don’t see a reason why the captain should be involved as there are guidelines given clearly as to who fits the bill and now it is for the three-member committee to decide on who is the candidate most suited to become the head coach.”

The CAC will be picking head coach but the coaching staff would be selected by the committee comprising MSK Prasad, Gagan Khoda, Jatin Paranjpe, Sarandeep Singh and Devang Gandhi.