CoA: National coaches to have two year contracts with BCCI
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The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators has brought in a new decision of contracting national coaches for a two-year period in a bid to overcome the conflict of interest issue. The conflict of interest issue was pointed out by former CoA member and historian Ramchandra Guha.
Ramchandra Guha's open letter to CoA chairman Vinod Rai raised questions on the conflict of interest issue according to which a national coach's decision making prowess could be hindered by his indulgence with the IPL teams. Following the letter, the CoA scheduled a meeting in New Delhi, which was also joined by BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary and CEO Rahul Johri from London via video conferencing. The CoA made the decision to offer a two-year contract to all the national coaches.
The coaches were earlier contracted for a ten-month period following which they were free to join their respective IPL franchise.
"Now all contracts will be for two years," Rai told the Indian Express.
Another CoA member stated that the changes in the contracts were in accordance to the Lodha committee reforms.
“Any new contract that the BCCI enters into will have to comply with the Lodha reforms. It can’t be in conflict. And the Lodha Committee recommendation clearly says that the national contracts should be of (at least) 12 months. So 10 months for the national team and two months with the IPL can no longer work,” he said.
Rahul Dravid, who is the coach for the India A and U-19 teams and also the mentor of the Delhi Daredevils franchise, recently wrote a letter to the BCCI to clear the lines along which the conflict of interest regulations
“How can it be for one and not for the other,” commented the CoA member on Dravid's issue.
The CoA was also informed of the ongoing process of coach selection in the meeting.
“The Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) is continuing its discussion with the captain and coach to figure out the nature of problems and whether that can be resolved etc. But in that context, if they are not able to complete the process before the West Indies tour (first ODI is on June 23), then they might have to request Kumble to continue (for the tour). They (CAC) are supposed to have more rounds of conversation with the captain and coach,” said the CoA member.
The speculated spat between Indian skipper Virat Kohli and head coach Anil Kumble has hindered the former leg-spinner's contract extension. The BCCI had earlier invited applications for the head coach and now Kumble will have to go through an interview even if the differences between him and Kohli are resolved.
The CoA also announced that the team will be assigned a professional team manager after the West Indies tour which was in response to Kohli and Kumble's request.
