Decision on India coach will be taken before South Africa series in September: Anurag Thakur

Colombo: BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur today confirmed that a call on India’s new chief coach will be taken in September in consultation with Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) before the start of the South Africa home series in October. South Africa will play four Tests, five ODIs and three T20Is during their 72-day long tour of India and Thakur said they have left the decision to appoint the new coach on Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) comprising of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman. [caption id=“attachment_2400712” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File picture of Anurag Thakur. BCCI[/caption] “I think it is very important to have a full-time coach for any team. We have taken some time to decide and most probably in the month of September, we will finalise the coach,” Thakur told official broadcasters ‘Sony Six’ during a lunchtime interview. “Shashri is holding the position of the director for the last few months and he has done well with the Indian cricket team, the boys have given us a good feedback about him, so the only issue is if we want a full time coach then what would be the set-up. We can’t be having 10 people with the Indian cricket team. “So we have left it to the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) to decide how many people will be required, how many coaches will be required, whether a bowling coach, a batting coach, a full-time coach or a director. Let them take a call, come back to BCCI in September and before the South Africa series, I can assure you that we will take a call on that.” Asked if BCCI is concerned at the way Indian team is struggling against spin bowling and if the board is going to look at the domestic pitches differently, Thakur said: “I think this issue was discussed in the captain and coaches conclave as well. “I think in the last few years we have moved towards green pitches and bouncy tracks. We have seen batsmen struggling against spinners in the last Test. Even in India A match in the first innings, the spinners took five wickets. So I think we will have to look at the domestic cricket and preparation of the pitches and see what we really require.” Talking about BCCI’s reservations against Decision Review System (DRS), Thakur said: “It is not about an individual or an association to be against a system. I think we have to see why we don’t have a 100 per cent system, or we have to make our mind that it is not going to be 100 percent. “I think if you look at past few months, you will see that we have lost many matches and then we come back and say ‘oh we have lost this match, lets look at the DRS’. I think it is not only when we lose a match we should look at the system but we need to look at the overall feasibility of it, whether it is practical, whether it is close to 100 per cent, whether it will help the decision to be implemented, if that is there, we have never closed our mind to that. “BCCI’s (technical committee chairman) Anil Kumble and others had gone to the US to look at the system and see if we can improve it further. I think there are areas where we can look at and improve it to next level. If that is possible, the options are never closed,” said Thakur. PTI