India Cricket Overhaul: The first week of January is a big week for Indian cricket. With BCCI top brass meeting with captain Rohit Sharma, coach Rahul Dravid and NCA Director VVS Laxman today, plenty are at stake. Even sacked Chairman of the selection committee Chetan Sharma is present. It’s decision week for BCCI. Besides formally approving split captaincy, the Indian board will take a call on split coaching with a specialist T20 coach for Hardik Pandya & Co. Another important decision is regarding the new selection committee. Follow India vs SriLanka LIVE Updates on InsideSport.IN.
Decision week for BCCI:
- Appointing Hardik Pandya as the official T20 captain.
- Decision on T20 specialist coach, replacing Rahul Dravid.
- Decision on India’s support staff including fielding coach T Dilip & NCA team of physios.
- Appointing a new batch of selectors.
BCCI President Roger Binny will attend the review meeting via video-conferencing. BCCI secretary Jay Shah will be physically present. He will speak to the Indian captain Rohit Sharma and Coach Rahul Dravid on back-to-back defeats in the World Cup semi-final and the ODI series in Bangladesh.
India Cricket Overhaul: New Year, BIG WEEK for Indian Cricket, DECISION on Split coaching, split captaincy & New Selection Committee likely, Follow LIVE Updates
1. Split captaincy: The BCCI will formally take the views of Rohit, Rahul and Laxman on split captaincy. Hardik Pandya has already been declared the T20 captain but the BCCI hasn’t confirmed whether the move is permanent. With workload management, BCCI will ask Rohit Sharma to focus on the long formats and leave T20 cricket. But before that, the BCCI top brass wants to understand the captain and coach’s views. The board has already handed Hardik the vice-captaincy in the 50-over format.
2. Split Coaching: BCCI is set to face some heat on this front as it has never been done before in Indian cricket. But with a lot of travelling involved for coaches, BCCI is mulling a specialist T20 coach to replace Rahul Dravid. The former India captain can nurture the ODI and Test teams with his vast experience.
As earlier reported by InsideSport, BCCI is very serious about appointing a specialist coach for the shortest format. The same will come up for discussion in the meeting. India haven’t won an ICC tournament since 2013. And the PERFORMANCE REVIEW Meeting is clear-cut signal, that is BCCI is determined to make amends next time.
“Nothing is final yet. We are exploring multiple options. Rahul is very much in our plans. But there is a workload on him too. Our entire focus shifts to World Cup at home. The message to everyone is clear, we have to win the World Cup. So, for obvious reasons, the focus is not on T20s at the moment. There are a lot of discussions going on. But for a final decision, CAC and the selectors have to be involved. And it will take a little while,” a senior BCCI official told InsideSport.
India Cricket Overhaul: New Year, BIG WEEK for Indian Cricket, DECISION on Split coaching, split captaincy & New Selection Committee likely, Follow LIVE Updates
3. Review of Support Staff: No one is happy with the performance of T Dilip as the fielding coach and Nitin Patel-headed team of physios. BCCI transferred Nitin Patel to the NCA to lay the foundation of sports science facility. However, India’s injury crisis has only gone from bad to worse. Currently, a plethora of star players are sidelined with various injuries. Even Rohit Sharma could not hide his frustration at the string of injuries.
As for the fielding coach, India have become one of the worst fielding sides from one of the best. India has seen a sharp decline in fielding performances players put up during R Sridhar’s tenure. BCCI has taken note of that.
India Cricket Overhaul: New Year, BIG WEEK for Indian Cricket, DECISION on Split coaching, split captaincy & New Selection Committee likely, Follow LIVE Updates
4. New Selectors: BCCI has waited for a long. With 200 applications to go through and the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) just appointed, BCCI will look to complete the hiring of new batch of selectors. The CAC has shortlisted the candidates and the interview process will begin in a couple of days.
With Venkatesh Prasad frontrunner to come in from South Zone, it is unlikely that Chetan Sharma would stay on as the chairman. Prasad out-qualifies Chetan with more Test matches to his name. However, there is a strong possibility that Chetan would stay on in the selection committee. The new committee will pick the squad for India vs NewZealand series.
New Selection Committee (Likely):
- Chairman: Venkatesh Prasad (South Zone)
- West Zone: Salil Ankola
- East Zone: SS Das
- North Zone: Chetan Sharma
- Central Zone: ?
“Of course, Chetan has a good chance and that is why he has reapplied. We have received a lot of applications but Chetan and Venkatesh are still two of the most qualified candidates. It is up to the CAC to decide whether to give Chetan and Harvinder a second chance. We will have a new selection panel by January 1st week,” a BCCI official told InsideSport.
India Cricket Overhaul: New Year, BIG WEEK for Indian Cricket, DECISION on Split coaching, split captaincy & New Selection Committee likely, Follow LIVE Updates
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