BCCI to appoint Women’s coach ahead of Bangladesh tour: Jay Shah

Amol Muzumdar and Surendra Bhave are among the candidates who are in the fray, but the BCCI wants to appoint a coach with a focus on the 2025 World Cup.

Representative Image: The position of the women’s team coach has been lying vacant since Ramesh Powar was moved to the National Cricket Academy in December last year.  | Photo Credit: PTI

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) plans to appoint a new coach for the India women’s team ahead of the tour of Bangladesh next month.

According to the BCCI secretary Jay Shah, the Board has already shortlisted the candidates for the job.

“The shortlist for the women’s team head coach has already been done. The CAC will meet and decide accordingly. We may have a new women’s team head coach before the Bangladesh series,” Shah said on Saturday on the sidelines of the Board’s Special General Meeting.

The position has been lying vacant since Ramesh Powar was moved to the National Cricket Academy in December last year. Hrishikesh Kanitkar was given a stand-in assignment as the batting coach, and the team featured in the 2023 T20 World Cup without a head coach.

Earlier this month, the BCCI had invited applications for the position, and according to the notice issued on the board’s website, the candidate ‘should have represented India or any other country at international level, or should have minimum NCA level ‘C’ coaching certificate or a similar certificate from a reputed organisation and a minimum of 50 first-class games’.

If a candidate has the experience of coaching an international team for a minimum period of one season or has coached a T20 franchise for two seasons, the person is eligible to apply for the role.

While the age criteria has not been specified, a person beyond 60 is usually not considered eligible for selection according to the BCCI policy. The role will be based in Mumbai, the candidate needs to develop a cricket coaching set up.

While it is believed that a former India coach was informally approached for the job, he wasn’t too keen on taking up the offer, thus forcing the BCCI to look at other options. Amol Muzumdar and Surendra Bhave are among the candidates who are in the fray, but the BCCI wants to appoint a coach with a focus on the 2025 World Cup.