Shastri tipped for hot seat
FORMER Indian skipper Ravi Shastri has emerged as the front-runner to be the new coach of India, but a final decision remains on hold until captain Virat Kohli has been consulted.
Shastri, 55, was among five highprofile candidates interviewed on Monday for the post left vacant by former Test captain Anil Kumble, who resigned amid difficulties over his relationship with Kohli.
An advisory committee of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman has been tasked with selecting the new coach to head the world’s number-one ranked Test team.
The cricketing greats considered presentations from Shastri, Virender Sehwag, Australia’s Tom Moody, Englishman Richard Pybus and former India manager Lalchand Rajput.
But after a gruelling round of interviews the committee decided there was “no hurry” to name the coach, and felt Kohli should be consulted before the final decision was made.
Speculation has been rife that Shastri, who served as India’s team director between 2014 and 2016, is on friendly terms with Kohli and will therefore get the nod.
“All members of the Indian cricket team are in favour of cricketer-turnedcommentator Shastri taking over the role,” reported The Times of India yesterday.
“All 15 members of the team are unanimous on this. It’s not even 14-1,” the daily reported.
Ganguly told reporters that Kohli would be briefed on the developments once the team returned from their limited-overs tour of the West Indies.
“The Sri Lanka tour is in a week’s time, the board headed by [secretary] Amitabh Choudhary and [chief execu Rahul Johri will probably continue with the same set for the time being,” said Ganguly.
“We want to speak to Virat Kohli once he is back from America, all three of us along with the respective people concerned.
“We will explain to him that the coaches want to function in a certain way and make sure that everybody is on the same page before we make the announcement.” — AFP ANGELO Mathews is reconsidering his role as Sri Lanka captain after the oneday series loss to Zimbabwe which he considers one of the lowest points in his career, the 30-year-old has said.
Sikandar Raza’s stellar all-round display guided Zimbabwe to their first oneday international series win over hosts Sri Lanka with a nervous three-wicket victory in the fifth and final match at Hambantota on Monday.
Zimbabwe, ranked 11th, had never beaten Sri Lanka before this series and their triumph is all the more special after they lost to Scotland last month and were beaten by Afghanistan earlier this year.
“It’s one of the lowest points in my career, and a hard one to swallow,” Mathews said after the 3-2 series defeat. “Everything went against us,” he said. Sri Lanka, the 1996 world champions, have left the door open for West Indies to pip them in the race for automatic qualification for the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales. — Reuters