CAC’s request to appoint senior team’s support staff declined by CoA

The Cricket Advisory Committee had recently sent a letter to the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators asking it to be involved in the appointment of the Indian cricket team’s support staff. However, according to a CricketNext source, the CoA has turned it down considering the lack of time to seek permission from the authorities before making such a call.

"There is just not enough time for COA to make a decision like this. The CAC can only select the head coach according to the new BCCI constitution. The COA would have needed special permission from the Supreme Court or the Amicus Curiae PS Narasimha to allow CAC to pick the support staff. There's not enough time for that," sources close to CoA informed CricketNext.

The three-member CAC comprising of Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy, had been asked to appoint India’s next head coach. The committee on Friday announced that Ravi Shastri will be retained for another term running till the end of the 2021 T20 World Cup.

However, as far as the support staff is concerned, the BCCI constitution gives the CEO Rahul Johri the power to appoint the staff. But the legal team had also stated that he is only a signatory for the same, and hence the senior selection panel has been handed over the job. This has been done considering the same protocol is applicable for appointing the junior team’ support staff.

The MSK Prasad commission will appointing the batting, bowling and fielding coach apart from the administrative manager from the 19th of August to the 22nd of August. Those who currently hold those posts, namely Sanjay Bangar, Bharat Arun, R. Sridhar and Sunil Subramaniam respectively, will run out of contract post the West Indies tour but will automatically be included as applicants for another term.While all of them will have to fight off competition from a lot of renowned names who have applied for the post, R. Sridhar will find it most difficult to hold onto his job considering South African legend Jonty Rhodes has also applied for the post. The long serving Mumbai Indians fielding coach is often considered to be the pioneer of modern fielding. However, Shastri has backed Shridhar to retain his post.

“Over the last 4-5 years the biggest improvement has been in fielding and endeavour is to make this side the best fielding unit in the world. So it’s a clear diktat that whoever wants to play in this team, that particular player’s fielding has to be at the highest level, especially in white-ball cricket,” Shastri was quoted saying in an interview with BCCI.tv.