BCCI appoints Kapil Dev-led ad-hoc committee to pick India's head coach

New Delhi: The Committee of Administrators (COA) running Indian cricket has tasked the Kapil Dev-led ad-hoc committee to pick the next national coach, a move that could again divide the Supreme Court-appointed panel. The ad-hoc body comprising former India captain Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy had earlier appointed W V Raman as the Indian women’s team coach in December. One of the members confirmed to the PTI that the BCCI has approached them to pick the men’s head coach as well. Back then, the COA was a two-member panel — comprising chairman Vinod Rai and former India captain Diana Edulji, who had called the women’s coach selection process unconstitutional. [caption id=“attachment_3805107” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Kapil Dev. AFP[/caption] She had asserted that only the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) was empowered to do so. But with serious doubts over the future of the CAC — comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman — the COA thought it was prudent to hand the responsibility to the ad-hoc panel. While Tendulkar has been cleared of conflict of interest charges, Ganguly and Laxman have been asked to choose one out of their multiple cricketing roles as per the BCCI constitution. The COA, however, is yet to take a call on the matter. Dev and Ranagsawamy too fall in the ambit of conflict of interest as they are also responsible for the formation of the players’ association as per the new BCCI constitution. The BCCI on Tuesday invited applications for the men’s team support staff, including the head coach who will need to be less than 60 years of age with a minimum international experience of two years. The application deadline for all the roles is 30 July. The current support staff comprising incumbent head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun, batting coach Sanjay Bangar and fielding coach R Sridhar were given a 45-day extension following the World Cup, covering the West Indies tour from 3 August to 3 September. All of them will get an automatic entry in the recruitment process.