Sourav Ganguly had reservations about Ravi Shastri's appointment, reveals BCCI source
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A highly-placed BCCI official revealed that CAC member Sourav Ganguly had reservations about Ravi Shastri's appointment as the Indian coach but was convinced by Sachin Tendulkar. Eventually, Shastri was named the Indian head coach on Tuesday and will oversee the team until the 2019 World Cup.
The mystery surrounding the next head coach for the Indian team was finally resolved late on Tuesday night when BCCI announced Ravi Shastri's for the post. Shastri would be accompanied by Zaheer Khan as the bowling coach, while Rahul Dravid who would take up the batting coach's role mostly on India's foreign tours.
However, it was reported by PTI that the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) comprising of Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, and VVS Laxman reached their decision after they had a conference call with Indian skipper Virat Kohli.
According to PTI, former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly had reservations about the appointment and there was a tough fight between Sehwag and Shastri, but Kohli's strong recommendation for Shastri during his tenure as the director swung the result in his favour.
The report suggested that it was Sachin Tendulkar who convinced Ganguly to respect the Indian team's wish who had reportedly been backing Shastri's name for the post. However, it was also learnt that Shastri did not get his choice Bharath Arun as the bowling coach, as the responsibility was handed to Zaheer Khan, who was Ganguly's favourite.
"Sourav was brought around and convinced about Ravi after it was agreed that Zaheer would be made the bowling coach," a BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity. Zaheer is such a name that no one could have possibly objected to due to his repertoire of knowledge and a fantastic relation with the current crop."
Following Shastri's appointment, Harsha Bhogle took to Twitter to express his views on the same and said:
Overseas tours is where the challenge lies. If Dravid batting 'consultant' and Zaheer bowling coach, is Shastri more "team director" again?
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha)
It is to be noted that Ravi Shastri had blamed Sourav Ganguly for him not being appointed as the coach in 2016 and in response, Ganguly had lashed out at the former all-rounder criticising him for his interview over Skype. However, after the Kohli-Kumble fiasco, Shastri became the strongest contender for the post with reports of most of the players as well as the Indian skipper Virat Kohli backing him and he eventually ended up bagging the job.
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