Reports: Ravi Shastri named head coach, Zaheer Khan bowling coach for team India
According to CK Khanna and several media reports, Ravi Shastri has been appointed as the coach of the Indian cricket team. His tenure is reported to last till the 2019 ICC World Cup which will be held in England.
Ravi Shastri appointed next coach of Team India, Zaheer Khan to be bowling coach: CK Khanna (Acting President, BCCI) pic.twitter.com/iqpsKsqaJB
— ANI (@ANI_news) July 11, 2017
In addition to that, it is reported that Zaheer Khan has been appointed as the bowling coach of the side as well. Further reports suggest Rahul Dravid will be the batting coach for the team for overseas tours only.
With this, it will not be the first time Shastri has been at the helm of the Indian cricket team. He was the Director of the side from 2014-16 before Anil Kumble took over as the coach.
Kumble was the coach of the side for one whole year after which he resigned due to the differences he had with the captain, Virat Kohli. Kumble did so shortly after India’s Champions Trophy campaign which saw them finish as the runners-up to Pakistan.
The former Indian cricketer was expected to coach the side against West Indies as well but he decided to step down shortly after the Indian side departed for the Caribbean. Sanjay Bangar, the batting coach and Kapil Malhotra, the team manager looked after the side during the tour to West Indies which saw India win the ODI series 3-1 but lose the one off T20I.
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Fresh applicants were invited for the coach of the side during the ICC Champions Trophy and 10 applicants had applied for the role. Amongst the 10, 5 were shortlisted and were interviewed by the Cricket Advisory Committee (CaC) on July 9.
While the coach was expected to be announced shortly after the interviews, Ganguly revealed that he wanted to consult Kohli before making the decision.
However, the committee confirmed that Kohli would not have a say in who the coach would be as they just wanted to have a discussion with the captain regarding the interview process and the decision which they made.
The 5 applicants namely Richard Pybus, Lalchand Rajput, Tom Moody, Virender Sehwag, and of course, Ravi Shastri were asked a whole lot of questions during the interview.
According to sources, the two main questions they were asked were related to the ICC World Cup in 2019 and how the coach would handle a conflict with the captain of the side.
There were a lot of rumours regarding Kohli preferring Shastri over the other candidates, however, the rumours were put to rest by the BCCI and the CaC.