India support staff aspirants interviewed in day-long exercise

The national selection committee interviews the candidates for the position of India’s batting and bowling coaches.

Lalchand Rajput had thrown his hat in the ring for the post of head coach. He is in the fray for the role of batting coach, too.

The national selection committee, headed by MSK Prasad, on Monday interviewed candidates for the position of India's batting and bowling coaches.

With Devang Gandhi touring West Indies with the national team, the four other members of the panel — Prasad, Gagan Khoda, Jatin Paranjpe and Sharandeep Singh — quizzed a total of 18 candidates for the various roles throughout the day.

Thirteen candidates appeared for the batting coach interviews, while five were for bowling.

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Some of the big names in the domestic circuit — Vikram Rathour, Sitanshu Kotak, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Amol Mazumdar, Pravin Amre — were interviewed for the batting coach job. Former India coach Lalchand Rajput — who was one of the contenders for the head coach position — threw his hat in the ring and presented his study.

Former India batsman Vikram Rathour arrives at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai for the batting coach interview on Monday.

 

The Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) had interviewed Rajput for the head coach role on Friday but he did not feature in the top-three.

For the position of bowling coach, former India speedster Venkatesh Prasad, Subroto Banerjee, Paras Mhambrey, Amit Bhandari appeared before the selection panel in person.

The incumbent batting coach Sanjay Bangar, bowling coach Bharat Arun, fielding coach R. Sridhar — who have been given direct entry into the process — will be interviewed on Tuesday from the West Indies.

The panel also connected with overseas candidates which includes Jonathan Trott via Skype .

"We have interviewed all the batting role candidates, except Sanjay (Bangar). The rest of the positions will be interviewed tomorrow," one of the members of the panel said.

After naming Ravi Shastri as the head coach coach, the CAC had written to the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) stating they should have a say in the selection process for support staff as well.

But top BCCI officials confirmed to Sportstar that Prasad's panel did not take any inputs from the CAC members — Kapil, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy.

One of the candidates who appeared for the interview told this publication that the panel quizzed them about their plan for the future and each candidate was given around 30 minutes to explain their point.

The national selection committee will consult interviews for the various roles till August 22.

On Tuesday, former South Africa cricketer Jonty Rhodes is scheduled to appear for the interview for fielding coach's role via Skype .

As per the new BCCI constitution, the selection committee has to interview all the support staff candidates including that of physio and administrative manager.