Arun appointed India bowling coach, Bangar is assistant coach
Mumbai, India - Following a recommendation from Indian team coach Ravi Shastri, Bharat Arun has been named the side's bowling coach.
The appointment came after a meeting between Shastri and a four-member BCCI committee, where it was also decided that Sanjay Bangar will be the team's assistant coach.
The appointments mean Shastri will work with the same set of coaches - including fielding coach R Sridhar - who assisted him in his earlier tenure as team director. India's support staff have all been given two-year contracts, until the end of the 2019 World Cup.
Shastri also confirmed that Rahul Dravid and Zaheer Khan will be on board as consultants. "I have spoken to both the individuals as good as three or four days ago," Shastri told reporters after the meeting.
"They are fantastic cricketers for India, and their inputs will be invaluable. They will be on board once they have spoken to the authorities concerned, so there are no issues on that."
The committee comprising BCCI CEO Rahul Johri (convener), acting board president CK Khanna, acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary, and Diana Edulji, member of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), was created to resolve the ambiguity over the roles of Dravid and Zaheer.
While the BCCI's press release on July 11 stated that they were "appointed" overseas Test batting consultant and bowling consultant respectively, CoA chairman Vinod Rai said those were only recommendations from the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) that needed action from the CoA "in consultation with the head coach".
When asked if the confusion could have been avoided, Shastri said, "I was in England. I was watching tennis. I was very clear in my mind what my core team will be. What you just heard is my core team."
Shastri thanked the CAC comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and V V S Laxman for reposing faith in him. "I would like to thank the CAC because it is a privilege and an honour to be the head coach of the Indian cricket team and I would like to thank them for thinking I am worthy enough to do the job," he said on Tuesday.