The BCCI might have insisted the captain Virat Kohli will not have a say over the new coach of the India cricket team, but after inviting new candidates to apply for the open position following the resignation of Anil Kumble, there is a good chance that the players will get the man they want at the helm.
Ravi Shastri, with his easy going ways and propensity to not get in the middle of anything, was Kohli and the players' choice for the India coach's position the last time around, before the Cricket Advisory Committee of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman decided to go with Kumble.
Now that Kumble has been pushed out, the options that remained for the CAC and the BCCI consisted of five candidates, who had originally applied for the position when the BCCI asked for applicants last month – Virender Sehwag, Tom Moody, Richard Pybus, Lalchand Rajput and Dodda Ganesh.
Apart from Sehwag and Moody, not exactly the most interesting of list is it.
Read the Twitter reactions to Kumble's exit
However, that list could grow considerably with the BCCI saying they are ready to throw open the invitation again, for a seven to 10-day period.
"Look, when we had invited applications last time, Anil was an automatic entry," a BCCI official told PTI. "That might have prompted a lot of people from thinking that what's the need to apply when current coach is doing well and is in the mix.
"Now the situation has completely changed. A lot of people will now be interested knowing it's an open field."
But is it an open field? Or is this just a way to get Shastri back on board and make the players feel happy as can be again?
The BCCI insisted the CAC will make the recommendation on the new coach, but the final decision lies with the Indian cricket board, and if Kohli is adamant over Shastri returning as the coach, will they listen?
It all does look like being set up for the "preferred" candidate to step in, although there is a question over whether Shastri even wants the job anymore.
Player power to the fore to oust Kumble
The former cricketer seemed quite happy to return to commentary duties, putting his usual (loud and extremely obvious) spin to the proceedings and the feeling was that the only way Shastri would consider returning was if the BCCI would make a request, much like they did when he originally was named as the technical director.
Another question to be asked is if this India coach position has turned into a poisoned chalice now. Who wants to take over a position which will entail just going along with the players and being shot down the moment you might have opinion of your own, or at least a strong one?
There are coaches in world cricket who are best at just letting the captain run the show and giving their inputs whenever needed – indeed, a good argument can be made over the fact that that is precisely the job of a head coach in cricket, to be the head of the support staff and little more – and that might be the kind of candidate that the BCCI looks for.
Will that be Shastri or someone else?
