No decision yet on new coach, says BCCI

Reacting to widespread media reports that Ravi Shastri has been appointed India coach, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday refused to confirm or deny the reports, saying a final decision will be taken shortly.

The Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) of the BCCI -- comprising former captains Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and veteran batting star V.V.S. Laxman -- has been directed by the Supreme Court appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) to announce the new India team coach on Tuesday.

"No final decision on coach as yet, as three CAC members are still deliberating and talking to each other," BCCI Acting Secretary Amitabh Chaudhary told the media on Tuesday.

"The CAC is still deliberating, formal announcement could be made later."

Earlier, the enire media was abuzz with reports that Shastri has been handed a second term as the head coach of the Indian team.

A veteran of 80 Tests and 150 One-Day Internationals (ODI), the 55-year-old Shastri had earlier served as the Team Director for India's tour of England in 2014 to the 2016 World T20, where India lost to the eventual champions West Indies.

Shastri was overlooked last year and the CAC picked celebrated spinner and former skipper Anil Kumble for a one-year term. That term unfortunately ended on a controversial note after the last month's ICC Champions Trophy in England.

Shastri had initially not applied for the coach's post but when the BCCI extended the deadline for accepting applications till July 9, he jumped into the fray.

Besides Shastri, the CAC on Monday interviewed four other candidates -- explosive India opener Virender Sehwag, Sri Lanka's former Australian coach Tom Moody, Pakistan's former coach Richard Pybus from England, and India's former manager Lalchand Rajput. Former West Indies coach Phil Simmons wasn't available for the interview process.

The CAC wanted to postpone the announcement of the new coach's appointment as they wanted to consult India skipper Virat Kohli on the issue, but the Committee of Administrators later directed them to speed up the process and finalise the issue by Tuesday.

--IANS

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