Nearly five months after Duncan Fletcher's tenure as the coach of Indian team came to an end, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is still hunting for his replacement. It has now emerged that the board is looking at having separate coaches depending on the format of the game.
Fletcher's tenure as the Team India coach ended with the conclusion of 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in March. The BCCI has since failed to appoint a full-fledged coach for the team. According to sources, it is now expected before South Africa tour of India, starting on 2 October.
Former Indian skipper Ravi Shastri, who is currently the team director, is also the coaching in-charge of team.
One would have thought that every coach around the world would be willing to take up the responsibility of Team India, but the BCCI also has a problem. The cash-rich Twenty20 leagues around the world seem to be a major obstacle, as coaches are not ready to commit for a longer tenure.
"The problem with hunting for coaches is that with IPL and other T20 leagues around the world, they are not prepared to commit for a long period," The Times of India quoted a source as saying.
As a result, the board is said to be thinking on different lines, which includes different coaches for the Test side, and for the ODI and T20 formats.
"We have different captains for Tests and ODIs. So, one of the things we are looking at is whether we can have separate coaches for different formats," the source told the daily.
It will be interesting to see who the BCCI appoints (whether one or two) as the board has given preference to foreign coaches in the past and the richest cricket body in the world has received mixed bag of reactions for the same in the past.
However, India has been hugely successful under the guidance of foreign coaches such as Gary Kirsten and John Wright, while Australian Greg Chappell's stint was a major disaster.
Will the BCCI go in with an Indian coach this time? One will not be surprised if Ravi Shastri is given the coveted job as he has received the backing of current Indian captain Virat Kohli as well. Shastri has been with the Indian team for quite some time and its performance has been decent so it should come as no surprise if the former cricketer becomes the full-fledged coach.
In order to find the best person for the job, the cricket advisory committee, which includes the stalwarts of the Indian cricket--Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman--has been entrusted to find suitable candidates.
