Shastri to remain Indian team director until World Cup, existing support staff also stays

Former cricketer-turned commentator Ravi Shastri will continue as the Indian cricket team's director until the end of the 2015 World Cup, following a decision taken at the BCCI's working committee meeting on Friday.

Duncan Fletcher remains head coach of the side, while the tenures of the three support staff members - Sanjay Bangar, B Arun and R Sridhar - have been extended until the end of the World Cup.

Joe Dawes and Trevor Penney, India's bowling and fielding coaches respectively, who had been put on leave after the Test series defeat in England, have been asked to complete their terms at the National Cricket Academy.

"Mr. Ravi Shastri will oversee the activities of the Indian Team as a Director during the West Indies Home Series and the Test Series in Australia. He will be with the Indian Team on a full-time basis during the Triangular series in Australia and also for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015," a BCCI release said.

The working committee also decided that the board's annual general meeting (AGM), where the office bearers for the next three years will be elected, will be held on November 20.

According to its own regulations, the BCCI has to convene its AGM before September 30 every year. The meeting has, however, been deferred this year after India's Supreme Court ordered BCCI president N Srinivasan to step aside until the investigations into the IPL 2013 corruption scandal were complete. The ambiguity over the powers of the interim president, Shivlal Yadav, had added to the issues surrounding the delay of the AGM.

At today's meeting, the working committee also congratulated N Srinivasan, who attended as a representative of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, for having taken over as the ICC chairman. It would be interesting to see if Srinivasan's presence in the working committee would be interpreted as contempt of court since the working committee is the board's decision-making body.

The committee also approved the accounts for the previous financial year, and formed a committee to assess the damage caused by the floods in Jammu and Kashmir to the state's cricketing infrastructure.