After interviewing applicants on Monday, the cricket advisory committee (CAC) comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman are not on the same page regarding selecting a new coach for Team India is concerned, DNA has reliably learnt. The three are said to have their own favourite and this is causing a delay in arriving on consensus.
The CAC interviewed all the five applicants — Virender Sehwag, Ravi Shastri, Tom Moody, Richard Pybus, Lalchand Rajput — but failed to reach a consensus on whom to pick as a replacement for Anil Kumble. India will most likely tour Sri Lanka, beginning July 26, without the services of chief coach.
The interviews were conducted at the Cricket Centre in Mumbai. Only Sehwag appeared in person and others appeared via video conference.
Though they are said to harbour different opinion on who should be selected, Ganguly said: "We need a few days more and talk to a few more, especially the captain and then make the announcement because we feel that there is no hurry at the moment (to name the coach). There is a Sri Lankan tour coming in a week's time and the board will probably continue with the same set (that was in place for the West Indies tour) for the time being.''
When this process started a month back, Sehwag was the favourite as he was apparently asked by Ganguly himself to apply for the job. However, a lot has changed since then as another powerful lobby of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) allowed Shastri to get in by extending the deadline for application. They did so without taking into confidence neither the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators nor the powerful N Srinivasan's group.
And the result could be, as a BCCI official said, "It's between Shastri and Moody."
Kohli, the king
Ganguly said that "the CAC, along with respective people concerned, would talk to Kohli after his return from US".
And his reason: "We will explain to him (Kohli) that the coaches want to function in a certain way and make sure that everybody is on the same page before we make the announcement, because once we make the announcement, it has to be till the World Cup".
Going by what Kohli wants, there should not be any doubt that Shastri is the favourite. But the big question is whether the Indian skipper would be tempted to walk into this trap? About a decade ago when he was still a teenager, Sehwag was his first captain in the Delhi Ranji squad.
Shastri, like the previous time, was not present in person and did not have to face his bête noire Ganguly. He completed his formality through the Skype. Even Tendulkar was on video conferencing from London.
Conflict issue for VVS
Former India batsman Laxman was asked to recuse himself from the interview as soon as it was Moody's turn. This because the COA wanted to avoid any issue of conflict of interest as the former India batsman is a mentor for Indian Premier League team Sunrisers Hyderabad, which is coached by the former Australian all-rounder.
This was necessitated after the resignation of COA member Ramachandra Guha.
However, Laxman was allowed to be present during other interviews — despite his yet another conflict of interest — as he draws money from the Cricket Association of Bengal as its batting consultant.
Laxman was reportedly paid Rs 90 lakh by CAB, in president Ganguly's tenure, for the second year in a row. Last year, he got Rs 60 lakh for 30-day stint the association to train young Bengal batsmen. This after he is being paid a huge daily allowance (Rs 5,000 plus) and the CAB takes care of his boarding and lodging.
"The employer-employee relationship between the two CAC members needs to be looked at COA," said an official from the Srinivasan camp.
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