With the infighting within the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) reaching the doors of former MCA and Indian cricket chief Sharad Pawar, the appointment of Mumbai’s head coach for the Vijay Hazare Trophy has been further delayed.
On a day when four selectors met Pawar along with former MCA chief Ravi Savant to complain against the office-bearers’ interference in cricketing matters, an MCA source told Sportstar “the coach will be appointed latest by Monday evening”.
READ: Vijay Hazare Trophy to begin on February 20
Cross purposes
The coach appointment procedure has been mired in controversy ever since Amit Pagnis resigned after the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy debacle.
On Friday, while the office-bearers proposed former Mumbai captain Amol Muzumdar take over the reins, the Cricket Improvement Committee (CIC) headed by Lalchand Rajput finalised former India off-spinner Ramesh Powar as coach.
Savant along with four of the five selectors, except Salil Ankola, met with Pawar. “We had no choice but to request him to intervene. It’s sad to see MCA having become a laughing stock due to the mismanagement,” Savant told Sportstar .
“He agreed that according to the MCA constitution, the CIC should be handling cricketing matters and assured that he would speak with the MCA president to sort out the issue.”
READ: Internal squabble delays appointment of Mumbai coach
No response
MCA president Vijay Patil did not respond to queries about the coach appointment and the role of the CIC. However, an MCA source hit back at Savant for “interfering in the association’s working despite not being a voting member”.
The Mumbai team is set to enter the biosecure bubble on February 13 for the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Be it Muzumdar or Powar or someone else, it will be no less than a miracle if the coach can get his act together and avoid a repeat of the embarrassing outing in the T20 tournament.
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