It has been an ever long drama, after a series of opinions and conspiracies, BCCI finally revealed that former Indian captain and current BCCI director Ravi Shastri is India’s new found coach. Now, following that much-awaited name, it also unveiled the details of the second list, which constitutes names of consultants, the bowling coach, and many others.
Post the main announcement, BCCI, now, in its statement has announced that former Indian pacer Zaheer Khan would play the role of a consultant only during specific away tours, much like Rahul Dravid’s role with Indian batting. A media report claimed that Shastri was indeed unhappy with Zaheer’s appointment as bowling coach and wanted his role to be reduced to that of a consultant’s.
Regarding the same, the Committee was in negotiations with Zaheer Khan as he admitted that he could not chalk out more than 100 days with the Indian Team.
Earlier when Ravi Shastri was selected as the Head Coach, he wanted former Indian bowler Bharath Arun to take the role of the bowling coach. The name of Jason Gillespie was also taken by Shastri when one of the members of CAC did not agree with Arun as the bowling coach.
However, now it seems that the newly appointed Coach will leave no stone unturned to include Arun within the ranks. Shastri expects that Zaheer Khan would lay the blueprint of the plans while Arun would be involved with the execution, respectively.
Meanwhile, in its official statement, the Committee has said that:
“BCCI expresses its sincere gratitude to the members of the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) who most willingly agreed to undertake the process of selection of the Head Coach of the Indian Cricket Team. The three members of the committee have executed the assigned task with total transparency, professionalism, and commitment to Indian cricket.”
The statement further read:
“The recommendation for Mr. Ravi Shastri was made on the merit of his presentation and the vision that he projected for taking the team to greater heights. After taking the decision on his selection, the CAC consulted him and decided on having Batting and Bowling consultants on an overseas tour-to-tour basis, as per the requirement of the team. The BCCI wishes to thank the CAC for the selfless pro bono service rendered to assist the Board in the selection process of India Cricket Team’s Head Coach.”
Now, that Zaheer was given this rare and vital role, let us hope that he will give his best to rope in fruitful results under the guidance of Ravi Shastri.