Coach decided, BCCI wants Virat Kohli’s nod
dya should have been played. He isn’t just one of the biggest hitters in the team but also troubled Lewis in the ODI series.
They also left out the in-form Ajinkya Rahane, the man-of-theseries in the ODIs, and picked Rishabh Pant who scored but at a much lesser pace than Virat Kohli would have liked.
India’s middle-order failure hurt here too with former skipper MS Dhoni failing to get going.
West Indies skipper Carlos Brathwaite praised his bowlers, especially those who bowled towards the end. He also felt the X-factor that Lewis brings helped them.
“He hits the ball in unconventional areas. Once he gets in, he goes big. It is difficult to stop him. He doesn’t give his wicket away. He hits the ball cleanly and also hits in some funny areas that takes a while for teams to get accustomed to. By the time you get accustomed to, he is already fifty-odd and heading to 90 or a 100,” said Brathwaite.
It turned out to be true because by the time India got him to play a false stroke, he was close to fifty.
As luck would have it, the shocked Indians gave him a couple of lives.
First, Shami barged into a catch that Kohli already had in sight, and spilled it. Then, Karthik spilled one, blaming the wind and the fact that he got confused with Kohli coming in to attempt it.
Lewis began quietly, scoring just seven off the first 10 balls. However, he launched into Shami and Ashwin.
Soon after he got the lives, he lost opening partner Chris Gayle. But he settled down after that.
The BCCI deferred naming the chief coach for the senior India cricket team. What turned out to be an anti-climax of sorts, Sourav Ganguly of the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) told reporters on Monday that they were in “no hurry” to name Anil Kumble’s replacement.
Five candidates were interviewed. Virender Sehwag, who was the only one who turned up personally, spent close to an hour with the high-profile CAC that also has VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar as members. The panel had dramatically named Kumble as head coach in June last year.
Two foreign coaches --- Tom Moody and Richard Pybus --were also interviewed by the panel.
West Indian aspirant Phil Simmons wasn’t interviewed. Lalchand Rajput is the third Indian in fray. The postponement will come as a setback for Ravi Shastri, who was being tipped to become the head coach again. Shastri, apparently a Virat Kohli favourite, was interviewed on Skype. Last year, too, Shastri had skipped a front-tofront interview with the CAC.
Not turning up personally for the chief coach’s job was one of the factors that went against Shastri. The former all-rounder and Ganguly were involved a bitter war of words.
On Monday at the BCCI’s Cricket Centre, Ganguly said the committee wanted to speak to Kohli before arriving at a decision. “Everyone must be on the same page,” said Ganguly. “We will need a few more days,” he added. It is clear that Shastri was not an automatic choice.
BCCI said the process of selecting the head coach had been completed. If the length of interview is an indication, Sehwag will be a favourite, but equations can change. Shastri was the favourite to win back his position. He was team director for two years (2014-16). He did not get an automatic extension last year and Kumble, a late entrant, was named coach for a year.
Kumble’s contract expired at the end of the Champions Trophy final where India were mauled by Pakistan. Apparently, the CAC and BCCI officials failed to strike a compromise between Kohli and Sourav Ganguly has sent out a strong message to India skipper Virat Kohli by putting on hold the decision to appoint the new head coach. Ganguly, who is part of the Cricket Advisory Committee, said BCCI will announce the coach’s name once everyone is on the same page.
“Virat also needs to understand how coaches operate. That’s the best way forward,” said Ganguly.
The CAC decided to first discuss its choice of coach with Kohli in order to avoid a situation that led to the unceremonious exit of Anil Kumble, their chosen candidate last year. “We have decided to hold the announcement. We need a few days to talk to a few more players and the captain before making an announcement because we feel that there is no hurry at the moment,” said Ganguly.
“We want to speak to Kohli once he is back from the Caribbean. We will explain to him that coaches function in a certain way and make sure that everybody is on the same page before we make Kumble during the Champions Trophy.
Shastri did not apply for the coach’s job when the BCCI first advertised on June 1. After Kumble withdrew from the race of becoming coach on June 20 and the BCCI advertised for fresh candidates on June 23, Shastri jumped in.
Kumble refused to carry on as chief coach after reports of a ‘rift’ with Kohli emerged. Kumble, during whose coaching tenure India won 12 Tests to become the No 1 Test side, expressed shock that the team did not like his presence in the dressing room.
Kohli and some teammates were unhappy with Kumble’s ways of handling the team and complained to the BCCI mandarins. The captain and coach were hardly on talking terms during the Champions Trophy.
Sanjay Bangar, who stepped in as coach on the tour of West Indies, could continue for the tour of Sri Lanka, beginning July 26.
So dominant was the opener in his 125* that hosts won with nine wickets to spare THIS WAS LEWIS’ SECOND CENTURY IN T20IS AND BOTH CAME AGAINST INDIA. HE HAD HIT 100 IN LAUDERHILL IN USA LAST YEAR. Virat will need to understand how coaches operate. At the same time, you have to give credit to Kohli that he has stayed out of the coach selection process. We will have a chat with him once he is back from West Indies.