The CAC was aware Ganguly would miss Shastri interview
Dec 13, 2017 at 8:21 PM
The Indian coach appointment saga just keeps on getting dragged.Now a report in Espncrinifo has claimed that while the Cricket Advisory Committee comprising of VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, and Sourav Ganguly, hadn’t informed Ravi Shastri that one of its members would not be present at his interview, the panel itself was aware of this.
BCCI had thrown open the door for applications in June and had received 57 applications. The list of applicants had then been reduced to 21. After the shortlist, the candidates were interviewed by the CAC , which was formed in 2015,and were asked to make presentations for the post of India’s head coach. Apart from Kumble, there were other high-profile candidates like former Team Director Ravi Shastri, Pravin Amre, Lalchand Rajput, Tom Moody, Stuart Law and Andy Moles.
The race for the head coach reportedly boiled down to a race between Shastri and Kumble. After a successful stint of 18 months with team India as its director, Shastri was considered as the frontrunner to grab the post. However, the CAC decided to appoint Kumble as the coach.
Later, talking to the media Shastri revealed that Sourav Ganguly had been absent at the time of his interview. “If he was present, he would have asked some questions. I wish he was there,” Shastri told Mumbai Mirror.
According to a senior BCCI official privy to the minutes of the interview, Ganguly was briefed on Shastri’s presentation by the other members of the panel – Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, and coordinator Sanjay Jagdale – when he rejoined them.
“He [Ganguly] had told the committee that he had some commitment, and after some time, he came back,” the official said. “In any case, he was kept in the loop and the panel told what Shastri said during his presentation. Importantly, all other members of the committee were present when Shastri was interviewed.”
Shastri’s interview was conducted between 5 to 6 pm . According to a report in a leading daily, During that time, Ganguly was away at the office of the cricket association of Bengal (CAB)in Kolkata during that time. He was attending a working committee meeting of CAB. Ganguly came out of that meeting at CAB at about 6.30 pm and he told the waiting media that Kumble, Pravin Amre, and Lalchand Rajput were interviewed in person while Shastri was spoken to on Skype.
According to BCCI president Anurag Thakur, Kumble was one of the few names the panel had recommended to him. However, Thakur did not reveal whether Shastri was part of the final picks.
Reacting to Shastri’s statements, Ganguly said: “The (coach selection) interview is absolutely confidential. I don’t want to talk about Shastri’s comment. You should also ask the other members of the (cricket) advisory committee.”