BCCI appoints 7-member panel to find coach

A seven-member committee headed by BCCI president Sharad Pawar has been set up to choose India's new cricket coach amid reports that Australians Dav Whatmore and Tom Moody are the front runners for the job.

Besides Pawar, the 'Special Committee' will consist of three former captains - Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and S Venkataraghavan - as well as N Srinivasan and MP Pandove, BCCI treasurer and joint secretary respectively. Board Secretary Niranjan Shah will be the committee's convenor.

An official announcement from the BCCI said that Pawar had appointed the committee to advise the board in the selection of a cricket manager or coach for the team, which means that the successor to Greg Chappell, who resigned recently, could be given either designation.

The committee is to meet at the earliest and convey its recommendations to the board.

Shastri, who has been appointed the cricket manager for next month's tour of Bangladesh, is said to have told the board that he would not be available for the coach's job after this assignment.

Whatmore, who is currently Bangladesh's coach, has publicly shown his interest in the job which Chappell described as the "toughest cricket assignment in the world".

Moody, who has done an excellent job with the Sri Lankan team, is also said to be in the reckoning.