The Background:
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has invited applications for the post of India’s head coach in May after making it clear that Anil Kumble would not be given a contract extension after his contract expiry.
At that time, five candidates – Virender Sehwag, Tom Moody, Richard Phybus, Lalchand Rajput and Dodda Ganesh had applied for the job while Kumble was a direct entry.
However, after the former India skipper stepped down from his post on an unexpected note, the India board decided to extend the deadline on the thought that a number of eligible candidates may not have applied since Kumble himself had re-applied for the post.
The Story:
The Committee of Administrators (CoA), appointed by the Supreme Court to oversee the administrative functioning of the board, was not informed when the BCCI invited fresh applications for the post of head coach. Earlier, reports had suggested that the CoA was miffed with the whole development and according to a recent report in The Indian Express, Diana Edulji, one of the members of the committee, raised the issue with BCCI CEO Rahul Johri during a meeting on Saturday (July 1).
“Ms Edulji asked why an advertisement extended the date for receiving further applications was released without the knowledge of the COA. She expressed the view that after Anil Kumble stepped down, the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) should have chosen a head coach from among the existing applicants,” a source was quoted as saying by the news outlet.
Revealing the point put forward by Johri to defend the decision of deadline extension, the source added:
“The CEO (Rahul Johri) explained the rationale behind extending the date for receiving further applications saying that some potential candidates may not have applied when Anil Kumble was in the fray because it was expected that he would be reappointed as head coach in the light of the performance of Team India during his tenure and that it was always better if more people applied.
“Ms Edulji asked that her objection be recorded and other members of the COA agreed to it. The COA reposed faith in the CAC to take the right decision in the interests of Indian cricket,” the source further said.
Meanwhile, Ravi Shastri is the latest candidate to join the race for head coach. The new coach is likely to be selected before the Sri Lanka tour commencing next month.
Read More: (Shikhar Dhawan shares his thoughts on the coaching style of Kumble & Shastri)