Another name is added to the list of contenders who aspire to become the next head coach of The Indian Cricket team. It is learnt that former Indian seamer Venkatesh Prasad, who is currently the junior national chief selector, has also applied for the job of India’s coach. And hence, he joins Ravi Shastri for applying for the post after Kumble’s resignation.
Prasad’s 3-year long term as junior India chief selector will end this year in September and has refused to extend his term. He is now willing to compete with Virender Sehwag, Tom Moody, Lalachand Rajput and Dodda Ganesh for a big post.
It has also been revealed that when Committee of Administration (CoA) came to know about the team being unhappy with Kumble, a general manager of the Board approached Virender Sehwag to apply for the job. An official said, “They came to know about the problem only after the IPL final in Hyderabad last month, by which time it was too late to do anything except ask the CAC to pitch in.
“It is, however, mysterious that CoA head Vinod Rai didn’t attend the meeting after the Champions Trophy final between Virat Kohli and Anil Kumble, which turned out to be unpleasant in the end. If the CoA was more proactive, Kumble wouldn’t have been insulted by the captain in front of three top Board officials. He felt let down after the episode.”
Also, the BCCI CEO didn’t let CoA know anything about extending the deadline to apply for the India coach to July 9 too. “If it was done to suit Shastri, it won’t go down well with Viru, who, we must remember, was asked to apply in the first place. Neither will he be pleased with Sachin Tendulkar’s reported request to Shastri to apply for the job,” said an official.