Boy does Indian cricket love controversy.
Everything was supposed to be done and dusted after the Cricket Advisory Committee, consisting of India legends Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly, named Ravi Shastri as the new head coach of the India cricket team, which is precisely what the captain Virat Kohli wanted.
In addition, the CAC also gave the bowling coach role to Zaheer Khan and an overseas batting consultant position to Rahul Dravid.
Everyone immediately felt: Now that makes a lot of sense. Zaheer is perfect as the bowling coach and any time Dravid is involved with the senior team, can only be a good thing.
Well, Shastri doesn't think so, especially as far as Zaheer is concerned. Thought to be Ganguly's choice, Shastri, who has not seen eye-to-eye with the former India captain, has plumped for Bharat Arun as the permanent bowling coach, forcing the BCCI, like little kids who have been told what to do, to go back on their initial statement, which had claimed Zaheer to be the permanent bowling coach.
Now, Zaheer has been named as a bowling consultant for away tours, which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, because if you want a consultant for away tours, it would make infinitely more sense to hire someone from the country you are touring.
Dravid is different – he was a magician with the bat in overseas conditions. And while Zaheer wasn't bad, there were much better bowlers out there, who performed in England, South Africa or Australia.
So, clearly this is just turning into another unsavoury incident, with the CAC sending out a letter to the COA, who had said Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman had gone out of their ambit in picking the support staff as well, complaining about the manner in which they have been sullied.
Shastri has come out looking like the "Big Boss," in all of this, the man who suddenly has the power and is willing to wield it to the fullest. Remember Ravi, with great power, comes great responsibility.
Which is insane when you consider the fact that the only reason Shastri was hired was because he is the kind of personality who will not rock the boat; who will just let the players go about their business; who will sit down for a press conference and talk about the "120 percenters" and the need to show "passion and aggression," and little more.
But, clearly, knowing just how much the players want him, Shastri has started to feel that same sense of entitlement that the players in the dressing room have, and he is ready to take on the CAC (read Ganguly).
However, all of this could end up working against Shastri in the end, if the COA say enough is enough and decide to redo the process in order to avoid another long, drawn out controversy.
According to CricketNext, the COA have put a stop to the drawing out of contracts for Shastri, Zaheer and Dravid, in order to take time to discuss the issue and come to an agreement.
Will that mean Shastri's appointment is on the line as well?
What if it all comes down to the egos, with Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman deciding Shastri is not the right candidate after all?
Or maybe the COA themselves decide to take the matter into their own hands and decide to appoint a head coach and support staff on their own?
Whatever happens, this has all started to leave a proper bitter taste in everyone's mouth, and Indian cricket is suddenly starting to make Pakistan cricket look like the beacon of professionalism.
We don't want that do we?
