Mumbai: A day after Ravi Shastri’s re-entry for the race of India coach job, it has emerged that it was Sachin Tendulkar who stepped in to convince his statemate to apply for the post.
Shastri is currently holidaying in London and reportedly said that he “wouldn’t stand in the queue” for the coaching job, as he believes that he had been deliberately ignored during the interview process last year despite doing a good job. It’s still not clear whether the ex-India all-rounder would appear for the interview.
A report claimed that it is Tendulkar, who too is holidaying in London with his family, convinced Shastri to consider his stand once again. Tendulkar is part of the three-man Cricket Advisory Committee.
It is not secret that captain Virat Kohli enjoyed working with Shastri and he might have wanted him to be Kumble’s successor. Considering that fact, Tendulkar spoke to the former all-rounder, according to the report.
Interestingly, last year, Shastri was the front- runner to be selected as India’s head coach and was also interviewed by CAC members Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman. However, despite having Tendulkar’s backing, Kumble edged Shastri, through Ganguly and Laxman’s support, to become the coach of the Indian cricket team.
Ganguly has said the differences between Kumble and Kohli were not handled properly. “The matter between Kumble and Kohli should have been handled a lot better, by whoever in charge. It was not handled properly,” Ganguly said on Tuesday.
The BCCI invited fresh applications on June 23 after Kumble stepped down. Virender Sehwag, Tom Moody, Lalchand Rajput, Richard Pybus and Dodda Ganesh, for now, are the five shortlisted candidates. The board decided to stretch the deadline for fresh applications to July 9 from May 31.
