List of questions asked to the Indian coach applicants

What’s the Story?

The Cricketing Advisory Committee interviewed the prospective candidates to take over the role of the Indian cricket team coach on July 9. The committee consisting of Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, and VVS Laxman asked a lot of questions to the interviewees and focused mainly on two aspects.

"The first was their vision going into 2019 World Cup in England and secondly the role of a coach compared to the captain. They were asked how would they handle delicate situations as and when it arises," said a source close to the BCCI and NDTV when asked about what questions were asked in the interview.

"Obviously, the coach-captain relationship is one aspect where all five candidates were grilled. The three CAC members all took turns to ask some tough but relevant questions to check their preparedness. What was impressive to find out was that everyone seemed keen to get the job which reflected in their performance," he continued.

In case you didn’t know...

There were a lot of rumours going around about Ravi Shastri having been appointed the coach of the Indian cricket team. However, the Board of Control for Cricket in India were quick in denying the rumour saying that the CaC are yet to reach a decision.

Amongst the 10 applicants who had applied for the post, 5 were interviewed namely Richard Pybus, Lalchand Rajput, Tom Moody, Virender Sehwag, and Ravi Shastri.

The Details:

Shortly after the interview process, Sourav Ganguly confirmed that he wanted to talk to captain Virat Kohli before making the final decision.

However, the Cac and the BCCI confirmed that Kohli would not have any say in who the next coach would be. The source revealed that Kohli, as captain, needs to know the rationale behind the appointment of the next coach.

What’s Next?

With the rumours of Shastri as the next coach squashed, we can only wait until BCCI makes an official announcement. They have not confirmed as to when the decision would be made.

Author’s Take

Given the fact that Kumble had to resign due to the differences he had with Kohli, it was a good decision taken by the CaC to focus on how the prospective coaches would handle a conflict with the captain and ask them about it.

Also, with the World Cup just two years away, it is important that India finds the perfect coach who could help them lift the title like Gary Kirsten did back in 2011.