Internet Desk: Former team director Ravi Shastri will have an upper hand when the three-member Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) will meet on Monday to select the coach of Indian men’s cricket.
As per record, the board has received 10CVs so far- Shastri, Virender Sehwag, Tom Moody, Richard Pybus, Dodda Ganesh, Lalchand Rajput, Lance Klusener, Rakesh Sharma (Oman national team coach), Phil Simmons and Upendranath Bramhachari (engineer with no cricketing background).
According to the reliable sources the CAC comprised with Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman will take the interview of six among the 10 candidates. The six likely candidates are Shastri, Sehwag, Moody, Simmons, Pybus and Rajput.
The chair of India coach had fallen vacant after legendary leg-spinner Anil Kumble stepped down from the post at the end of ICC Champions Trophy 2017.
After Kohli-Kumble rift, the CAC will have to be more cautious while choosing the new coach who will get a two year contract till ICC World Cup 2019.
Earlier Shastri hadn’t applied for the post but after extension of the deadline for acceptance of applications till July 9, the former team director finally filed his application for the top post.
According to the sources Shastri is favourite among all the candidates as he shares a good relationship with India skipper Virat Kohli. During Shastri’s period India reached the semifinal of ICC World Cup 2015 too.
However, it is still not clear what would be the view point of Sourav Ganguly, with whom Shastri had a very public spat with both taking potshots at each other.
Shastri had then alleged that Ganguly wasn’t present when he was being interviewed via Skype. Ganguly had responded that had Shastri been serious, he should have appeared in person for the interview.
The other notable candidate is flamboyant opener Sehwag.
Sehwag was a genius in his own rights, but his coaching credentials are yet to be proved.
A two-year stint as Kings XI Punjab mentor has not yielded the desired results.
Moody can’t be totally ruled out because of his rich credentials as an international and franchise coach. He had coached Sri Lanka to the 2011 World Cup final and guided Sunrisers Hyderabad to an IPL triumph.
Moody had also appeared last year for an interview but lost out to Kumble, who was too big a name to be ignored.
What works for Moody is his calm demeanour and ability to work from behind the scenes.
In case Moody comes in, McDermott could be a good choice as bowling coach, though both are from the same country.
If Shastri is picked, then Bharath Arun will be back as bowling coach of the team.
Simmons has been a good coach for smaller teams like Afghanistan and Ireland. He had a stormy stint with the West Indies team as he had issues with regards to team selection.