On Thursday (22nd August), the senior national selection committee members have completed the interview process to select the support staff of the Indian national cricket team. Later, on Thursday evening, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the names of three shortlisted candidates for each role.
The interview process ran from Monday (19th August) to Thursday evening at the BCCI headquarter in Mumbai. MSK Prasad-led five members committee conducted that interview process.
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Batting coach: Vikram Rathour is likely to replace Sanjay Bangar
A total of 14 candidates fought for the batting coach post, including the present batting coach Sanjay Bangar. However, in the selection committee’s final three shortlisted candidates, former Indian cricketer Vikram Rathour is ahead from Sanjay Bangar. The 50-year-old Rathour played six Tests and seven ODIs for India from 1996 to 1997. He played 146 first-class matches and 99 List A games in professional cricket career.
Rathour already served as a senior national selector till 2016 that was led by Sandeep Patil.
The present batting coach Sanjay Bangar is in the second position among the final three shortlisted candidates. During his ongoing tenure, most of the Indian batsmen have struggled to perform consistently. Also, his hard work wasn’t enough to find out the proper batsman for the no.4 position in limited-overs cricket.
The 49-year-old former English cricketer Mark Ramprakash is in the third position in the list of final shortlisted candidates. He played 50 Tests and 18 ODIs for England. Since 2012, he has coached various teams. From 2014 to 2017, he was the batting coach of England cricket team.
BCCI is likely to retain the bowling and fielding coaches
Meanwhile, the BCCI is unlikely to change the bowling and fielding coaches. The present bowling coach Bharat Arun is on top of the list of final three shortlisted candidates. The other two candidates are the former Indian medium-pacer Paras Mhambrey and the former Indian pacer Venkatesh Prasad respectively. A total of 12 candidates were present in the entire interview process to select the bowling coach.
Under Bharat Arun’s tenure, the Indian bowlers have dominated in the world cricket.
Ramakrishnan Sridhar or R Sridhar is also likely to retain his fielding coach post. He is in the top position among the final three shortlisted candidates. Former domestic Indian cricketers Abhay Sharma and T Dilip are in the second and third position respectively. Nine candidates fought for this post.
BCCI also revealed the shortlisted candidates for the other remaining posts
Nitin Patel, Andrew Leipus and Vaibhav Daga are the top three final shortlisted candidates respectively for the Physiotherapist post. The national selection committee took the interviews of 16 candidates for this post.
Nitin Patel was the former physio of the Indian national cricket team from 2007 to 2015. During his tenure, India won the ICC World T20 2007 and ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.
Since 1999 to 2004, Leipus spent as a physiotherapist of the Indian national cricket team. Recently, he left the physiotherapist role of the Indian Premier League (IPL) side Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) where he spent from 2008 to 2019.
A total of 24 candidates fought for the Administrative Manager post. The present manager Sunil Subramaniam will finish his role soon as he is not in the list of final three shortlisted candidates. He has recently faced controversies due to his inappropriate behaviour. The top three shortlisted candidates are Girish Dongre, Venkatesh Rajagopalan and Anand Yalvigi respectively.
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Moreover, 12 candidates were present in the interview for the post of Strength and Conditioning Coach. The selection committee has shortlisted five candidates for the next round of the interview process to assess their practical skills. The final five candidates are Luke Woodhouse, Grant Luden, Rajnikanth Sivagnanam, Nick Webb and Anand Date.
Earlier, the present head coach Ravi Shastri has retained the head coach position of the national team. According to the latest contract, Shastri will serve this post till the end of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021.