CAC announces Indian Cricket Head coach : As expected it’s Shastri again
New Delhi : Ravi Shastri will continue as the head coach of the Indian men’s cricket team, winning a second term on Friday. The three-member Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) instituted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), comprising Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy, announced the decision after conducting interviews with the prime candidates.
This will be Shastri’s fourth stint with the national team, having served briefly as the Cricket Manager (2007 tour of Bangladesh), Team Director (2014-2016) and head coach (2017-2019).
Shastri, who had taken over the coaching role after the 2017 Champions Trophy, is expected to continue to serve in the position till the end of the 2021 T20I World Cup.
“Number three was Tom Moody, number two was Mike Hesson. Number one is Ravi Shastri as all of you were expecting… (But) It was a very close race,” said Kapil at the press conference to announce the decision here.
Shastri, who got a 45-day extension after the end of his tenure following the World Cup in England, was publicly backed by captain Virat Kohli. Before his second stint at the helm, he also donned the role of the Team Director earlier. The team reached the semi-finals of the 2015 ICC World and the 2016 ICC WT20 under his watch.
Among all the candidates, Shastri’s record was unmatched as the team reached the No.1 ranking in Test matches under his guidance and won a series in Australia for the first time in 71 years.
Shastri pipped former India teammates Robin Singh and Lalchand Rajput along with former New Zealand coach Mike Hesson and Australian Tom Moody to the post. Former West Indies and Afghanistan coach Phil Simmons pulled out of the race, citing personal reasons.
India have won 13 out of 21 Tests, 43 out of 60 ODIs and 25 T20 Internationals out of 36 on his watch.
