Mumbai: Just like last time, this time around, Virat Kohli won’t be able to select his choice of coach, a senior BCCI official said to the Indian Express during an interview. The final initiative will be taken by a panel led by former Indian all-rounder Kapil Dev, and it needs to be approved by the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), the official had stated.
The official, who did not wish to be named, stated that, “Last time, the captain (Kohli) had expressed his difficulty, or the team’s difficulty, with former coach Anil Kumble. In the new selection process, he will have absolutely no say with regards to who becomes the coach. This time, we have Kapil Dev in the coach selection committee, and he will not listen to him (Kohli).”
In one more ouster from the method applied last time, the BCCI has stated that the top-most selection committee will choose the support staff to aid the coach.
The official stated, “Support staff will be picked by the selection committee. Normally, we allow the head coach to do that (pick the support staff) for team building. This time, if the head coach is selected (before the selection of the support staff), he might join the process.”
Anil Kumble had resigned as head coach after the Champions Trophy defeat to Pakistan in 2017, following the loss, Kohli expressed that BCCI should let him decide the way of functioning in “his own style”.
Following his request, Ravi Shastri was the selected as the head coach, and was given a new contract till the 2019 World Cup, where India suffered a shock defeat to New Zealand in the semis. The CoA has provided a 45-days extension to the coaching staff and members for the West Indies tour which slated to start on August 3.
It has been understood that the BCCI wants to appoint a new head coach before September 15 (that is the before the home series against the Proteas). Shastri and other coaching members like Sanjay Bangar, Bharat Arun and R Sridhar, will automatically join the new staff selection method, but they still need to re-apply.
