Interview for India coach to be held on 21st June in Kolkata
Dec 13, 2017 at 8:14 PM
One of the main candidates for Indian cricket team’s coaching job, Anil Kumble may have to face some of his former India teammates in a significant interview for the top job on 21st June. The process of the selection has gathered an welcomed speed over the last two weeks.
On Saturday, the Board’s high-profile Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), that includes Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and VVS Laxman, with former BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale being its coordinator, held their first meeting at the Cricket Centre in Mumbai.
Meanwhile, 57 applicants had applied for the post, among those 21 were shortlisted by the BCCI.
Ravi Shastri, who served the role of India’s team director until the ICC World T20 2016, is one of the frontrunners now. India had a decent amount of success under his watchful eyes. Sandeep Patil too had a stint as India’s coach in the past, but he wants to forget that terrible time and look forward to the new term if he is roped in for the job. Stuart Law’s name has also surfaced for the job. However, BCCI has not revealed any of the names.
As some of the high-profile candidates like Anil Kumble will not be able to meet all the criteria (he has not coached any international or First Class team, he also hasn’t passed any certificate course from the National Cricket Academy), CAC have been given the permission to interview anyone outside this list of 21 if they want to. Reports are claiming that the committee has already shortlisted a few candidates, who will now have to sit for an interview on June 21 in Kolkata.
Some of the candidates who cannot travel to Kolkata will have to give the interview through video conferencing. “The meeting is being held in Kolkata because Ganguly cannot travel out of the city due to personal reasons,” Board secretary Ajay Shirke said on Sunday. The committee has very little time on hand to recommend a coach ahead of the Working Committee meeting, which will finally ratify the decision, on June 24 in Dharamshala.
“In case the CAC takes a little more time, the BCCI WC can always authorise the president (Anurag Thakur) and secretary to approve the recommendation of the CAC about the new coach,” said Shirke.
India are most likely to get their new coach ahead of the four-match Test series against West Indies in the Caribbean in July and August.