With Anil Kumble's exit as Team India coach, is the door opening for Ravi Shastri?
The Indian cricket team landed in the West Indies on Wednesday, well insulated from the outrage at home over coach Anil Kumble being forced to say goodbye.
Media debates are on and the "sympathy" for Kumble is quite high. Someone like Sunil Gavaskar minced no words in rightly lambasting the Indian team on air for what they did to Kumble.
And even before the dust has settled down over Kumble's exit, two senior officials of the Indian cricket board (BCCI) are flying trial balloons.
A few questions remain unanswered from Tuesday. If Kumble was asked to continue by the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, how did it happen so soon?
Word has it that the CAC was supposed to conduct interviews to find the new coach and then forward the name to the BCCI. If an extension was being given to Kumble, he refused it not because of the terms and conditions in it. The real reason was how some BCCI officials told Kumble the skipper had "issues" with him.
Back to the BCCI officials, an attempt is being made to create an impression as if more people can now apply for the coach's job! The list of applicants who had sent in their CVs before the deadline expired includes Tom Moody, Virender Sehwag, Lalchand Rajput, Dodda Ganesh and Richard Pybus.
The grapevine says the decks are being cleared so that Ravi Shastri can now apply. There is no confirmation of this news but mere speculation is in itself creating ripples. A quick word about Shastri. Skipper Kohli gets along with him fabulously and he has never minced words in talking about it. The big catch is, last year, the CAC was to interview Shastri but there were reports Ganguly was not in favour of him.
It was interesting to read what CK Khanna, acting president BCCI, and Rajeev Shukla had to say on hiring the new coach. The BCCI wants to be done with the job before the Indian team leaves for Sri Lanka. There is also talk of the coach being offered a contract till the 2019 World Cup.
On paper, between Virender Sehwag and Tom Moody, if one is to go through the credentials, the Australian has a better record. As a coach with a proven track record, Moody has delivered.
He was coach of Sri Lanka and now handles the Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL team. Which means, he will surely be backed by VVS Laxman. The point is, nationality of the new coach should not matter.
The best person must be hired and should be given a proper brief. In the good old days, when a team coach in Indian cricket was unheard of, the manager dealt with many issues.
Today, the BCCI has given Kohli an exalted status. This is the time the CAC, CoA (Committee of Administrators) and the BCCI need to restore balance between captain and coach. To say they tried hard to sort out issues between Kohli and Kumble is not convincing.
Indian cricket needs to regain its sanity. The new coach who is hired has to be a disciplinarian. His tenure cannot be subject to the whims and fancies or the likes and dislikes of the Team India skipper.