Sachin, Ganguly and Laxman to decide Team India’s coach

After the initial list of as many as 57 applicants?for the post of head coach of the Indian team, 21 applicants have been short-listed and found to meet the primary eligibility criteria specified by the BCCI.

The final call for the head coach from the remaining 21 applicants is to be made by a three-member advisory committee comprising former Indian cricketers Sachin?Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, under the coordination of??Sanjay Jagdale, who will act as chief co-ordinator of this committee for the purpose of the selection of the head coach.

Jagdale has been appointed to act in association with the advisory committee, on grounds of his past cricketing administration experience, serving as the?BCCI secretary in the past.

The list of 57 was cut-short to 21?by the BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke’s office. However, should the committee desire to look at all the 57 applications as well, the said profiles will be made available to them.

Ajay Shirke, in an interview stated : “The cricket advisory committee will process and scrutinize all the applications, conduct interviews and seek presentations from candidates as the committee deems fit.”

The committee is expected to give its report by the 22nd of June 2016 to the honorary secretary of the BCCI. Sachin Tendulkar, due to his absence in the country currently, would be available?as and when required through video conference facilities.

The key parameters laid down by the Board, for a potential candidate stated:

• Candidate??should have coached a cricket team of any of the member countries of the ICC, at the international or first-class level.
• It is preferred that the candidate should be qualified through a certification/assessment program conducted by any of the Full Member countries, and currently possess such a valid certification.

According to the sources, the advisory committee is most likely to end up finalising one of the three potential candidates; Ravi Shastri,?by virtue of having worked with the Indian team as director for over 18 months and as someone whose presence is found inspiring by the young guns.?Sandeep Patil,?by virtue of having been the chief national selector of the BCCI since 2012.?Anil Kumble, by virtue ?of being one of the greatest spinning legends game has ever seen and a respected leader.

However,?the final choice for the committee is expected to remain between Patil and Shastri, in that order. Kumble, in spite of his great achievements as a cricketer, has only coached in the IPL.?Since the IPL does not qualify as First Class cricket, Kumble’s candidature is likely to be ruled out as he fails to meet the BCCI’s first condition for candidature.

Among Shastri and Patil, the former has an edge as he?is the only candidate who fulfils all the criteria listed by the BCCI , having famously coached Kenya to the World Cup semi-finals in South Africa in 2003.