After days of speculation and a few false starts, Ravi Shastri was on Tuesday night named as the next Head Coach of the Indian cricket team.
Hours after BCCI acting-secretary Amitabh Choudhary insisted that there was no decision yet but it was expected by the end of the day, Shastri, who has been in charge of the team twice before for various tenures, was given charge this time of guiding the Virat Kohli-led side for the next three years — till the 2019 World Cup.
“Besides Shastri as the chief coach, Zaheer Khan would be joining the team as its new bowling consultant. Rahul Dravid, who is the coach of the India-A and India Under-19 sides, will assist the senior team as batting consultant but only during overseas Test tours,” Choudhary confirmed to Sportstar.
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However, it was not clear whether the decision was finalised after consultation with Kohli — as the Cricket Advisory Committee, consisting of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman had wished — or without it.
Frontrunner
Shastri had been a frontrunner for the post ever since he officially applied for the job. Considered close to Kohli and enjoying a good relationship with the captain in his previous stint, the former India allrounder was among the six candidates interviewed for the job. Virender Sehwag and Tom Moody were the other big names in the fray.
Shastri, who was appointed the cricket manager for a one-off away series against Bangladesh in 2007, also served as the Team Director from 2014-2016, including the World T20 in 2016.
Shastri’s name had been unofficially mentioned in certain reports earlier in the day but Choudhary had refuted all those as completely untrue, only to confirm the news by the end of the day.
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