Mumbai: Ravi Shastri has been retained as the head coach of the Indian cricket team for the term of next two-years.
The Kapil Dev-led Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), which conducted the interviews with short-listed candidates at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) headquarters on Friday, handed 57-year-old Shastri his third stint.
Shastri is currently with the team in the West Indies — appeared for the interview via Skype and gave a detailed presentation on the road map for the future of the Indian Team.
The CAC — comprising Kapil, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy — interviewed five short-listed candidates which included Lalchand Rajput, Robin Singh, Mike Hesson, Tom Moody and Shastri — throughout the day before zeroing in on the former India captain for the job.
On the other hand, former Afghanistan coach Phil Simmons, who was among the 6 shortlisted candidates, pulled out in the eleventh hour, citing personal reasons.
It is to be noted that Ravi Shastri's tenure has been extended till the T20 World Cup in 2021. Moreover, Ravi Shastri's contract expired after India's World Cup 2019 campaign but he was handed a 45-day extension to be with the team on their tour to West Indies. Batting coach Sanjay Bangar, bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar's contracts were also extended for the said period.
Shastri was the frontrunner to retain his job as the head coach of the senior men's cricket team as the former India captain established a close working relationship with Virat Kohli. The India captain had even said that his team will be happy if Shastri continued as the head coach.
“With Ravi Bhai, all of us have a great camaraderie. Everyone in the team shares mutual respect and we have done well together as a group. We will be very happy if he is continuing as the coach,” Kohli said ahead of the recent West Indies tour.
Meanwhile, the CAC members made it clear that they did not consult with the Indian captain before giving another term to Shastri.
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