Venkatesh Prasad applies for India coach’s job

ByArun S Kaimal, SportsCafe Editor

06/08/2016

The battle for the Indian cricket team coach’s job heated up on Wednesday after former Indian pacer Venkatesh Prasad also joined the race for the post. The 48-year-old, who is currently the chairman of the BCCI's junior selection committee, was India’s bowling coach from 2007 to 2009.

"I applied this morning," Prasad confirmed to PTI on Wednesday.

The former Indian pacer will face stiff competition for the post from former Team India director Ravi Shastri and Sandeep Patil, the Chairman of the national selection committee. According to PTI, Prasad, who represented India in 33 Tests and 161 ODIs, taking 96 and 196 wickets respectively, is also open to the role of the bowling coach.

Prasad also worked as the bowling coach for IPL franchises Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore. Before taking over the role of the chairman of the junior selection committee, Prasad was the head coach of the Uttar Pradesh cricket team.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had invited applications for the Team India head coach last week. The position has been vacant ever since Duncan Fletcher’s contract ended after the World Cup in 2015. The deadline for applying to the post is June 10, as BCCI President Anurag Thakur had announced earlier.

The BCCI had listed nine criteria for the appointment of this post of which one of them was the ability to communicate in Hindi or one of the Indian languages. However, the governing body later amended the criteria to “the ability to communicate in an Indian language is desirable but by no means mandatory”. Regardless, the hints dropped so far clearly indicate BCCI is preferably looking for an Indian coach this time around.

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