MAHELA NOT IN THE RACE FOR INDIA HEAD COACH’S JOB
MUMBAI: Former Sri Lanka cricketing great Mahela Jayawardene has dismissed reports suggesting he is among those who have applied for the Indian cricket team head coach’s job. The Indian cricket team is currently without a head coach after Anil Kumble resigned last week. Virat Kohli’s side is playing in a limited-overs series in the West Indies.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) extended its original deadline for submission of applications from candidates after Kumble stepped down immediately after the ICC Champions Trophy saying that his relationship with skipper Virat Kohli was ‘untenable’. The BCCI had invited fresh applicants for the job despite Kumble maintaining a terrific record as in his one-year tenure as coach.
Kumble was asked to continue until the West Indies tour, but he did not board the flight to the Caribbean and instead resigned two days after India’s crushing defeat in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 final against Pakistan.
Virender Sehwag, Tom Moody, Richard Pybus, Lalchand Rajput and Doda Ganesh had applied for India’s coaching role when BCCI first advertised the Board extended the deadline to July 9 to get more applicants once Kumble stepped down.
Mahela Jayawardene’s name came to the fore on Monday. However, former Sri Lanka batsman has denied applying and said he is not looking for any full-time role at the moment. Jayawardene, 40, who retired from international cricket in March 2015, made an impressive coaching debut when he won the 10th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) this year with Mumbai Indians.