Team India’s failure in the ongoing series against England has once again brought to the fore questions about chief coach Ravi Shastri’s role in this team as well as the support staff. While Shastri has often spoken about how this team is headed to become world-beaters in the times to come, India first lost to South Africa (2-1) and England have now taken an unassailable 3-1 lead in this series.
Interestingly, while appointing Shastri as the chief coach, the Cricket Advisory Committee — comprising of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman — had announced that Rahul Dravid would be the batting consultant on overseas tours and Zaheer Khan would be the bowling coach. But Sanjay Bangar and Bharat Arun were later named batting and bowling coach.
Speaking on a show in India TV, Ganguly said that he wasn’t aware what led to Dravid opting out from the role having earlier agreed to be consultant when the CAC approached him. He went on to add that the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators had added to the confusion during the whole process of selecting the coach and that led to the CAC finally excusing itself from the process.
“Rahul Dravid had been asked to become a batting consultant and he had even agreed. But then he spoke to Ravi and I don’t know what happened after that. The Committee of Administrators also had added to the confusion with the coach selection and we were tired and just got out of it. So it’s difficult for me to say why Rahul Dravid did not become the batting consultant. But if Ravi Shastri was given the responsibility, after consulting Virat Kohli, then he has to fulfil that responsibility and improve the team,” Ganguly said.
{{/usCountry}}“Rahul Dravid had been asked to become a batting consultant and he had even agreed. But then he spoke to Ravi and I don’t know what happened after that. The Committee of Administrators also had added to the confusion with the coach selection and we were tired and just got out of it. So it’s difficult for me to say why Rahul Dravid did not become the batting consultant. But if Ravi Shastri was given the responsibility, after consulting Virat Kohli, then he has to fulfil that responsibility and improve the team,” Ganguly said.
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CoA chief Vinod Rai though have made it clear that they weren’t aware of any such appointment or announcement — Dravid as batting consultant and Zaheer as bowling coach — taking place and the CAC had been specifically asked to only appoint the chief coach.
“Anil Kumble had a one-year contract. It had no renewal or extension clause. When the CoA took over, we got to know a month later that his contract was expiring and we followed the protocol that was followed during his appointment. The idea was to select the head coach by the CAC — comprising of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman. Transparency requires you to follow a process and the due process throws up a result.
“The CAC was the entrusted body and they did what they felt was best. It wasn’t an unceremonious exit as his contract was only for a year. We made no statements on Zaheer Khan or Rahul Dravid’s appointments. Our job was to select the head coach through the due process,” he clarified.