Coach selection process: Virender Sehwag leapfrogs Ravi Shastri

Bengaluru, July 11: The drama surrounding the selection of the new coach of the Indian cricket team refused to die as it has emerged that Ravi Shastri might not be the frontrunner for the post as it was widely expected.

Amidst reports that the Committee of Administrators asked the Board of Control for Cricket in India to announce the name of the coach on Tuesday without further delay, it's understood that the announcement is likely take a couple of more days. The authorities might wait till Indian skipper Virat Kohli returns to India from the West Indies to hold a personal level discussion.

However, during that parely Kohli might have to pick from either Virender Sehwag or Tom Moody. The Cricket Advisory Committee, consisting Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, met on Monday and screened five candidates for the post - Shastri, Tom Moody, Virender Sehwag, Lalchand Rajput and Richard Pybus.

Among the five, the first three names impressed the CAC but it's learned that Sehwag made a mark with his vision for the 2019 World Cup. However, Moody too stood out owing to his experience as an international coach.

"What turned the tide in favour of Sehwag was his ideology about coaching - captain is the main figure in a team set up with coach doing a backroom role. However, the door is not entirely shut on Moody or Shastri. It all depends now on Virat's opinion. But he will have to give due weight to the views of CAC," said a Board official.

This, the sources said, was a measure to ensure that matters like selection of coach and support staff were not finalised on the whims of players.

OneIndia News