Finally, Ravi Shastri has been appointed the India cricket team coach. It looked like a foregone conclusion. There is no doubt that Shastri has the right credentials for the job (“Coach Shastri,” editorial, July 13). Added to that, he gets along well with the players and has had a stint as team director before. However, the entire process of decision-making, though we are made to believe that rules were followed, smacks of the working of an “old boys’ club”. Deferring the decision of the coach appointment by a day, as Sourav Ganguly explained, so that the Advisory Committee could get the captain Virat Kohli’s views, is also rather new. Since when have captains been consulted about coach appointments?
The fact that the BCCI is an “old boys’ club” has been brought home many a time to discerning followers of the game in India. Ramachandra Guha, a former member of the Committee of Administrators, realised this. His long letter of resignation rocked the boat but the effect was minimal. Things have since settled down to the old normal. The ‘old boys’ at the BCCI are just biding their time until the CoA runs out of steam or members, whichever is earlier, and they can come back and run their fiefdoms as they please.
S. Kamat,
Alto St. Cruz, Goa
