In response to a demand by the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), the Board on Thursday put on record its appreciation for the services rendered by the former cricketers Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman.

The CAC had taken exception to certain reports in the media that belittled their “transparent” process of picking the Head Coach of the Indian team, Ravi Shastri, and also the appointment of Rahul Dravid and Zaheer Khan as batting and bowling consultants.

Dravid, coach of the junior team and the India ‘A’ squad, has a contract with the Board to serve 100 days, the same being offered to Zaheer, but the latter would have a greater role and travelling involved.

The CAC is learnt to have written to Committee of Administrators (CoA) chairman Vinod Rai and the Board’s acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary expressing its “pain and disappoint” to see the light in which it had been portrayed in various sections of the media.

The CAC, in particular, had objections to suggestions that it had exceeded its ambit in going with Zaheer and Dravid as consultants. The CAC noted that the impression created in the media was that the two had been “foisted on the Head Coach.”

The CAC was keen that the CoA and the Board understood the situation and informed the cricket loving public of the reality. “It is our desire that you come public about the transparency of the process of identifying the next Head Coach so that these falsehoods are put to bed,” the CAC reportedly conveyed to the CoA and the Board.

The CAC claimed that it had spoken to Shastri on getting Dravid and Zaheer on board and he seemed to have agreed to the idea. Subsequent to the announcements, Shastri is said to have expressed his desire to have a support staff of his choice. In effect, he would want to have former India seamer B. Arun back.

Arun had lost his job after Anil Kumble took over as the Head Coach. The rest of support staff, Sanjay Bangar (batting coach), R. Sridhar (fielding coach), have retained their posts in the Indian team.

The Board, meanwhile, in an unsigned communication, responded, “The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) expresses its sincere gratitude to the members of the (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 Board stressed, “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 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.”
The final word on this issue is awaited.

(Courtesy: The Hindu)