During a press conference held before Team India’s departure for the West Indies tour, Virat Kohli said the team would be glad if Ravi Shastri were re-appointed as the head coach. However, Kohli’s comments didn’t please most cricket fans and critics. Many players of the team were not happy with Shastri and Kohli’s decisions as reported earlier. As a result, there were constant problems in the dressing room.
“The CAC (Cricket Advisory Committee) hasn’t contacted me yet. If they want my opinion, I’ll go and speak to them. With Ravi Bhai, we share a great camaraderie, and will definitely be very happy if he continues. But I haven’t been contacted so far,” Kohli had said.
The CAC includes 1983 World Cup Winning Captain – Kapil Dev and former batsman and coach – Anshuman Gaekwad. Along with Kapil and Gaekwad, former Women’s Cricket Team captain – Shanta Rangaswamy is also a part of the Committee that will select the new head coach.
“We have to go with an open mind. There are interviews to be conducted. A lot of people from India and abroad have applied. We have to go there and assess things,” said Gaekwad.
On being asked whether Kohli will have a say in this, Gaekwad replied:
“The captain can say anything. It doesn’t bother us. We are a committee. That’s his opinion and the BCCI takes a note of it, not us.”
“It all depends on the BCCI. BCCI has to give us guidelines and then we will go accordingly. He has already said yesterday (what he wants). When we chose the women’s coach, we did not contact anybody. We did it on our own,” he added.
However, former Indian team captain Sourav Ganguly felt that Kohli, as a skipper, has every right to share his thoughts and opinions.
“He is the captain. He has got every right to say,” said Dada.
Ganguly was a part of the Committee that had picked Ravi Shastri as the head coach back in 2017. Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman were the other CAC members.
Regarding Gaekwad’s comments, Ganguly kept it short and sweet:
“Every individual is different so I cannot comment,” he responded.
