Zaheer Khan Appointed As The Bowling Consultant, Sourav Ganguly Confirms

The Story

The selection of the coaching staff has turned into an unpredictable affair. A couple of days ago, CAC announced the appointment of Ravi Shastri as the new head coach, Zaheer Khan as the bowling coach and Rahul Dravid as batting consultant.

However, shortly after the much-published declaration, it was reported that while Shastri’s appointment was confirmed, both the decision on Zaheer and Dravid was yet to be confirmed as the negotiations were still ongoing. Thus, creating a sort of confusion among fans.

Zak’s role finally confirmed

The confirmation has finally arrived as Sourav Ganguly, a member of the Cricket Advisory Committee has confirmed that Zaheer Khan will be a tour-to-tour bowling consultant for Team India with a contract of 150 days per season.

“Zaheer was contracted for 150 days per year,” Ganguly told reporters at Eden Gardens.

Zaheer was initially reluctant to commit to a tenure of more than 100 days but it seems that the trio of Ganguly, Tendulkar and Laxman did manage to convince India’s most successful left arm fast bowler to accept the deal of 150 days.

Shastri unhappy, rumours suggest

It has been reported that Ravi Shastri is unhappy with Zaheer’s appointment and has demanded close associate and highly experienced Bharat Arun for the role. Shastri specifically mentioned that he has no doubt about Zaheer Khan’s quality but he wants someone who would have a long term association with him as a part of the coaching unit

Reports in some quarters claimed the Committee of Administrators (CoA) felt that the CAC, comprising Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman went out of their ambit in picking the coach.

Hurt by this criticism and reports, the CAC wrote a letter to the CoA chairman Vinod Rai and said the appointments were made after informing the new coach Shastri and India captain Virat Kohli.

The CoA later released a media release in the wake of the CAC letter and clarified that Zaheer and Dravid have been appointed as the consultants and they would be a part of the team during specific overseas tours.