Team India
Mr. Shashank Manohar, the president of the BCCI said on Friday from Nagpur that the board is in no hurry to appoint a new coach. In his words, “We are still in the process of doing so (finding a new coach). There’s no hurry as the team is leaving for the West Indies only on June 1.”
There were reports doing the rounds, that Andy Flower, who is the director of coaching of the English team at the moment as well as Duncan Fletcher who has himself been a former coach of England, were the favorites for the job.
However Mr. Manohar has not directly denied on the chances of any of the two being selected. In fact there are some indications that an interim coach might be selected for the West Indies tour of India.
A similar situation had arisen back in 2007 when Coach Greg Chappell resigned after the World Cup debacle and for more than eight months the team was without a full time coach. Lalchand Rajput who was the interim coach at that moment , supported by Venkatesh Prasad as bowling coach and Robin Singh as fielding coach ,had helped India gain a moral ground in the series against Australia in the series held in Dec 2007-Jan 2008. India also won its first ODI series in Australia in the same tour.
Thus it is quite probable that the BCCI may look back at the trio for the moment till they find a full time coach.
Mr. Manohar also confirmed that the BCCI has finally reached an understanding with the SLC on the issue regarding the availability of Sri Lankan players in the IPL. As the board president put it, “They will be here till the 18th and then directly go to England from Mumbai.”
However he made a clarification that he was not aware of any decision that will be taken by the SLC over Lasith Malinga – “I don’t know about individual players.”
Malinga who had reported to the Sri Lankan board that he had opted out of the test matches in the England tour due to lack of fitness, was criticized by officials from the SLC for playing in the IPL if he was unfit. Thus he has been called back immediately to undergo rehabilitation in-case he wishes to continue playing for his country.
Mr. Manohar also cleared doubts over payments made to boards for allowing their players to play in the IPL. “The 10 per cent (fees) is over and above what the overseas players are to get from the franchisees (as annual earnings on a pro rata basis). It will be paid by the franchisees.”
However the above rule is applicable only for overseas players.
Tags: BCCI, Coach, Cricket, Cricket India, Indian Cricket, President, Shashank Manohar, Team India
