BCCI forms ad-hoc committee to select women's team coach

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday formed an ad-hoc committee to conduct interviews of eligible candidates for the post of head coach of the national women's senior cricket team.

The panel consists of legendary Indian cricketers Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad, and Shantha Rangaswamy.

BCCI had invited applications for the position of head coach after the expiry of Ramesh Powar's term. The development had come at a time when the tussle between senior player Mithali Raj and Powar was at its peak.

Recently, Mithali Raj, in a fiery letter to the BCCI, had accused coach Powar of "discriminatory" treatment and of "humiliating" her.

Raj's omission from the Indian team for their semi-final clash against England in the recently-concluded Women's World T20 had also triggered a controversy, prompting Powar to mention the reason behind dropping the ODI skipper from the crucial match in a detailed team performance report to BCCI.

In his defence, Powar had stated that Raj used to give "minimum inputs in the team meeting" and never uttered a "single word of appreciation" after the team finished on top of the table. He also accused her of putting individual interests above those of the team.

The interview of the shortlisted candidates will be conducted on December 20 at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai.