Former Australia bowler Craig McDermott has applied for Team India’s head coach role. With current coach Anil Kumble’s contract expiring at the end of the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), last month, invited application for the high-profile job and has received applications from top names including former India opener Virender Sehwag.
Apart from Sehwag, other Indians who have applied for the coveted job are Lalchand Rajput and former pacer Doda Ganesh. Anil Kumble is an automatic entry into the process. There are also two overseas applicants in the fray- former Sri Lanka coach Tom Moody and former Pakistan coach Richard Pybus and the latest to join the race is McDermott.
The ex-Australia international confirmed his application to Sportstar on Saturday (June 3). McDermott, who was Australia’s full-time bowling coach from the 2013-14 Ashes series to last year’s World T20 in India, expressed his desire of becoming the head coach of an international team.
“Yes, I have thrown my hat in the ring for India’s head coaching job,” McDermott said. “I completed all the procedure on time, and the application was sent much earlier.
“I have had aspirations for a while to be a head coach,” added McDermott who played 71 Tests and captured 291 wickets.
McDermott played an instrumental role in shaping up Australia’s formidable pace attack consisting of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and James Pattinson and had played a big role in Australia’s 5-0 Ashes win and World Cup triumph in 2015.
The 52-year old, who turned down the offer to renew his contract with Australia last year, further said he is looking forward to returning to his old job.
“I was away from cricket coaching for a year, and now, I want to come back to it,” he said. “I have also enjoyed my time in India, and it would be nice to serve Indian cricket.”
India’s coaching role, meanwhile, is probably the most demanding job in world cricket and McDermott is well aware of it. The last time an Australian was appointed the head coach of Team India, it did not end on a good note but McDermott is confident he can do a good job if he gets the chance to coach India.
“I have handled many situations before. And I believe, as a head coach, your job is no longer restricted to just cricket,” McDermott said. “Being a head coach is about managing the people and maintaining a good relation with the players and the captain.”
Team India is currently embroiled in a controversy that claims about an alleged rift between captain Virat Kohli and coach Anil Kumble. However, Kohli has quashed all the reports. Speaking on the eve of his team’s Champions Trophy opener against Pakistan, Kohli said:
“There have been a lot of speculations and a lot of things being written by people without actually being a part of the changing room, which is very strange.”
“There are no problems whatsoever. If something is put in place as a process, I don’t see why people are creating so many speculations about it. It’s been followed last time as well, and I didn’t see any issues being created last time. It’s the same process.
“It’s just happening after 12 months. And there are no issues whatsoever. The team is totally focused on the Champions Trophy,” he added.
The new coach, meanwhile, will be selected in a similar process that saw Kumble leaving behind other competitors to bag the lucrative job in June last year.
After the applicants apply for the post, they will be reviewed by the board’s three-member panel, the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman. The trio will conduct interviews and seek presentations before selecting the next coach. The entire process will be overseen by BCCI CEO Rahul Johri.