India legends Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, who were a part of the firs Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) formed by BCCI, could be back in the panel today. As per a report in PTI, both will again be named in the CAC. Since Sourav Ganguly, the third member of the CAC, is now BCI’s President the board might name another India great as a part of the panel.
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CAC was formed in 2015 and first picked Anil Kumble as the head coach in 2016. In 2017, Ravi Shastri replaced Kumble as the head coach. Next year, CAC could have picked the women’s coach as well but the board formed an ad-hoc panel.
It was alleged that all three members of CAC were in the conflict of interest row. Sachin is associated with Mumbai Indians does commentary on occasions and was a member of CAC. Laxman is the mentor of Sunrisers Hyderabad and does commentary. While Ganguly was also associated with Delhi Capitals, was the President of Cricket Association of Bengal and he also did commentary.
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All the three former players were sent conflict of interest notices earlier this year and they quit CAC. The ad-hoc panel led by Kapil Dev, which included Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy, retained Ravi Shastri as head coach for the next two years. Although Conflict of Interest notices were served to this panel as well and all the three members quit later.
If BCCI confirms the appointment of Tendulkar and Laxman, the first job of the panel will be to pick a replacement for MSK Prasad, whose stint as chief of the Indian cricket team has ended. As per reports, likes of Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, Ashish Nehra, Ajit Agarkar and former chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar are in the fray for the top position.
It remains to be seen if the board invites applications for the vacant positions. In 2016, BCCI had invited applications for the post. MSK, who was already a member of the panel, was elevated to the chairman’s position then.