Sandeep Patil Slams The Cricket Advisory Committee; Calls Them Unqualified To Pick India’s Coach
Jul 14, 2017 at 3:39 PM
Former Chairman of Selectors Sandeep Patil has come hard at the BCCI appointed Cricket Advisory Committee comprising of three stalwarts of the game namely Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman for creating a confusion before and after appointing Ravi Shastri as the head coach of Team India.
The trio announced Shastri as the head coach on Wednesday and along with him, Zaheer Khan was elected as the bowling coach while Rahul Dravid was picked as a batting consultant for specific foreign tours. The former chief selector Sandeep Patil slammed the trio and said that they are not qualified enough to pick the head coach of Team India.
“I wouldn’t even call it warped. I’d say it’s all wrong. Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman are absolute legends as players and have done great things for the country, but none of them has coached a team. Do coaches pick umpires and vice-versa,” Patil was quoted as saying by the mid-day.
He also added that “passing the buck” has been done to play safe with the recommendations given by the Lodha Committee.
“It’s like passing the buck, and a bit like saying, ‘Look we have identified the next coach and now it’s up to you.’ Is this all done to play safe because of the Lodha Panel recommendations,” Patil quipped.
Ravi Shastri was a prime contender for the post left vacant following Anil Kumble’s resignation and his appointment wasn’t a surprise but electing Zaheer Khan ahead of Bharat Arun who was Shastri’s choice has stirred a lot of controversies.
Following India’s humiliating loss to Pakistan in the Champions Trophy final it was speculated that some big call was going to be taken as reports emerged from every quarter that Kumble and Kohli had stopped talking to each other long back and the captain wasn’t liking his coaching style. No one gave Ravi Shastri a chance especially after what happened last year.
Kumble was elected ahead of Shastri last year by the Cricket Advisory Committee comprising of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman. Ganguly wasn’t present in the meeting and had joined the panel via Skype which made Shastri infuriated and he slammed Ganguly by asking him to be present in any future meetings. Despite the CAC picking the coach, the inputs have come heavily from the Indian captain Virat Kohli who shares a very good bonding with Shastri without which it wouldn’t have transpired the way it had.