Sourav Ganguly slams Ravi Shastri.
Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly who had avoided speaking about the national coach selection row till now, finally lashed out at Ravi Shastri on Wednesday. Ever since he lost out on India coach's job, Shastri has not wasted a single opportunity to show his 'disappointment' about the selection process. He even blamed Sourav Ganguly for not being present during his interview session, saying, "I am disappointed because that person (Ganguly) was disrespectful of the candidate who was going to be interviewed and disrespectful of the job he was entrusted to do."
Incidentally, Ganguly, who is also the President of Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), had to attend a working committee meeting of the state unit and was not able to be present during Shastri's video conference interview from Bangkok.
Ganguly said that he had been ignoring Shastri’s comments for a long time but could not ignore it any further after he went on record to slam him.
“I am extremely surprised and saddened by Ravi Shastri’s comments. The kind of words he used and the personal attacks he engaged into, was uncalled for,” said Ganguly, adding, Ravi Shastri should have shown a bit more maturity. "He was applying for the biggest job in the game. If he thinks he’s not been made the coach because of me, then he is living in a fool’s world.”
Ganguly tore apart the former India Team director saying, “Shastri should have been present for the coach interview in person, instead of vacationing in Bangkok.”
Ganguly went onto add,"I don't know whether he is serious or not serious but I hope he was if he wanted one of the most important jobs in the game. But if he is talking about respect then he should have been here as well. When you have a three-member committee and important people are involved in the decision making then it is not just about Sourav Ganguly, so these personal remarks have been very saddening."
Ganguly then also gave his account of the itinerary of that day. "I had informed BCCI that there was a CAB Working Committee meeting that day. Being a president of CAB, I had to chair the meeting. Also the notification for a Working Committee is always given 14 days in advance whereas this meeting was fixed two days in advance. Ravi's meeting was scheduled at 4:15 pm and I guess Ravi has got that received as well. BCCI had sent him the time.
"Now while interviewing other candidates, it went past 5 pm and I came out of the meeting. Then Mr (Ajay) Shirke (BCCI secretary) called me and said that others (Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and co-ordinator Sanjay Jagdale) are requesting if they can continue (with the interviews). I said 'fine, let's do that as it happens everywhere in the world.' That's exactly what happened and I feel comments are very personal in nature."
BCCI had appointed a Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) (which comprised former cricketers Sachin Tendulkar, Ganguly and VVS Laxman) to recommend a coach for the national team. The experienced members finalised Anil Kumble as their preferred choice over Shastri and the former was given a one-year contract as the head coach of the national team.
The 1983 world cup winner also said that that he was disappointed for a day to have missed out on the job after a dream run of 18 months with the team. But he has moved on and is looking forward to some time away from cricket. Therefore next thing on his agenda is to go to West Indies to celebrate 80th birthday of Sir Gary Sobers.
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 "Sourav Ganguly and Ravi Shastri")
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