Arunachal Pradesh left in lurch as Gursharan Singh moves to Uttarakhand for upcoming season
BCCI
Arunachal Cricket Association (ACA) has been left in lurch as coach Gursharan Singh decided to move from Arunachal Pradesh to join Uttarakhand as the coach. Now, the association is planning to write to the Board of Control for Cricket in India, seeking help in looking for a substitution.
After KP Bhaskar decided to return to Delhi as the head coach, Gursharan Singh has decided to take the responsibility of coaching the Uttarakhand team, suddenly leaving Arunachal Pradesh in a lurch. Gursharan, who had played one Test and one ODI in 1990, had represented Delhi and Punjab in first-class cricket and was captain of the Punjab team when it won the Ranji Trophy, the only time in 1993 at Ludhiana.
So, naturally, it was a step up for him considering Uttarakhand will compete in the Elite Group this season. However, that has left Arunachal Cricket Association (ACA) in a lurch as the association needs to find a coach before September 24 when Vijay Hazare Trophy begins.
“We are surprised to hear that he has joined Uttarakhand because he had told that he would continue with us this season,” ACA secretary, Kabak Geda, told Sportstar.
The secretary claimed that they had formally informed Singh about his contract renewal on August 22 but yesterday they received the mail that he wouldn't be able to continue with AP this season.
“But yesterday, he sent an email saying that he won’t be able to continue due to some personal reasons. If he doesn’t want to continue, then we have to look for other options. Now, with him not around, we don’t know how will we manage things in such short notice,” Geda said.
This year Arunachal has roped in Samarth Seth, Rahul Dalal, and Shashwat Kohli as three outstation guest players for the upcoming domestic season and is planning to write to BCCI for a new coach but a top BCCI official said that this season, the associations will have to independently appoint coaches.
“Since nine new teams debuted last year, the Board had decided to help them out by providing coaching staff. But this time, every association has to manage on their own. We don’t have a say on who they appoint,” the official said. He, however, admitted that they will look into the matter once they officially receive any letter from the ACA.
