UPCA to select Ranji Trophy coach today
The Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) is all set to select the new coach for its Ranji Trophy team at its working committee meeting in Mussoorie on Saturday.
The search for the new coach has been on ever since former India speedster Manoj Prabhakar resigned from the post of chief coach soon after a pathetic season of the Uttar Pradesh cricket early this year.
UPCA’s acting secretary Yudhveer Singh, while confirming the appointment of a new coach at Saturday’s meeting, said that the UPCA so far had not received any application from anyone for the job.
“No one has either approached us so far or applied for the job. We will pick the coach on our own at the meeting,” Singh told HT on Friday.
“Don’t know who is going to be the coach of our senior side. Right now, I can’t even confirm whether it’s going to be someone from our own lot of former players or from outside again,” he said. He also refused to accept that meeting will prune the size of the five-member selection committee to three as per the Lodha Panel recommendations.
It is learnt that all coaches from outside the state i.e. Venkat Sundaram, Yashpal Sharma, Venkatesh Prasad and Manoj Prabhakar failed to motivate the side to do something special. It was UP’s own Rajinder Singh Hans who had guided the side to win their maiden Ranji Trophy in 2005-06. After him, it was former Indian player Gyanendra Pandey who helped the side do well in the knockout stages for many seasons. Changes in almost all the selection panels are also likely at the Saturday’s meeting where all directors, including Rajiv Shukla, will be present.
Any serious discussion on the implementation of the Lodha Panel recommendations is also unlikely as the UPCA is still waiting for a green signal from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
“We have already implemented 85% recommendations of the Lodha Panel and are waiting for a green signal from the BCCI that too is struggling with its proper implementation,” said Yudhveer.
“States have enough time to implement the recommendations as per the Committee of Administrators in the BCCI.”
In January this year, six officials of the UPCA, including its secretary Rajiv Shukla, had stepped down. Other office-bearers included two vice-presidents, Tahir Hasan and Madan Mohan Mishra, joint secretaries (accounts and company affairs) BC Jain, Suhaib Ahmed and treasurer KN Tandon. As per the Lodha recommendations, four of the office-bearers were above 70, whereas Shukla and Jain had already completed the maximum tenure cap of nine years.