Should the National selectors be tasked with the responsibility of picking the support staff for the Indian senior team? Some former Board members disagree with the current arrangement of leaving the job of selecting the head coach to the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) and asking the national selectors to identify the support staff.
The CAC, comprising Kapil Dev, Aunshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy, is scheduled to meet in Mumbai on August 16 to conduct interviews with candidates who have applied for the post of Head Coach. Ravi Shastri, the incumbent coach, is one of the six candidates shortlisted for the post.
“I fail to understand how this selection committee is better qualified than the CAC. If Kapil and his colleagues can pick the head coach, they can as well use their wisdom to give the coach the support staff he deserves,” said the veteran official.
When John Wright became India’s first foreign coach in 2000, he was interviewed by Sunil Gavaskar and Shastri. “They certainly did a good job. There was no CAC then,” the Board official pointed out. Gavaskar was also consulted before Greg Chappell was appointed coach in 2005. Gary Kirsten was brought in as head coach in consultation with some of the senior players.
“Earlier, the office-bearers would meet to pick the coach and the system worked well,” said the Board official. “The Lodha Committee mandated that the job be performed by a CAC which should include prominent cricketers. Sachin (Tendulkar), Sourav (Ganguly) and (V.V.S.) Laxman were brought into the CAC to ensure there was credibility to the process of picking the national coach.”
The previous CAC was disbanded amidst conflict of interest issues against the players. “The appointment of the new CAC should have been made in consultation with BCCI. The CoA doesn’t have the authority to appoint such a committee. Having appointed one, the same CAC should have conducted interviews for the support staff,” the official insisted.
“I know the decisions have been taken according to the new BCCI constitution but it does undermine the credibility of the CAC. It would be interesting to see how the CAC takes it. We haven’t heard from them yet,” the official concluded.
