Vikram Rathour, the former Indian opener, will be replacing Sanjay Bangar as Team India’s new batting coach. Bharath Arun and R. Sridhar will retain their job of bowling and fielding coaches respectively.
The All India Senior Selection committee led by MSK Prasad has shortlisted three names each for all the support staff positions and the top names in each category will be appointed after the formalities are complete.
The 50-year-old Rathour featured in 6 Tests and 7 ODIs for India but was a domestic heavyweight for Punjab. He till a few years back was a senior national selector under Sandeep Patil’s chairmanship.
He earlier applied for NCA batting consultant and U-19 batting coach’s position but his application was put on hold as his brother-in-law Ashish Kapoor is the chairman of the U-19 selection committee.
“Vikram Rathour has got enough experience and we are convinced with his skill sets (as a coach). We will ask him to declare if he has any conflict,” BCCI CEO Rahul Johri said to the reporters.
As per the recommendations of the selection committee, Team India’s current batting coach Sanjay Bangar came second while former England batsman Mark Ramprakash was third.
“The team management had their own views but looking ahead, we felt there should be some freshness in the support staff,” Johri said.
Meanwhile, former Mumbai Indians physio Nitin Patel, who was part of the support staff during the 2011 World Cup campaign, is back while Englishman Luke Woodhouse has been appointed as the strength and conditioning (trainer) coach.
