The Kapil Dev-led Cricket Advisory Committee found themselves on the wrong side of social media trolls after their official recommendation to BCCI about the appointment of Indian cricket team’s head coach had a spelling mistake. The three-member CAC comprising Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy re-appointed the incumbent Ravi Shastri as the head coach of Team India by unanimous decision on Friday.
The CAC gave three names in order of priorities in which Shastri outscored former New Zealand head coach Mike Hesson and former Sri Lanka and Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Tom Moody. “Number three was Tom Moody, number two was Mike Hesson. Number one is Ravi Shastri as all of you were expecting… (But) It was a very close race,” said Kapil at the press conference to announce the decision in Mumbai.
The problem however was with Mike Hesson’s name. In the official recommendation which was made public by BCCI, the CAC wrongly spelt Mike Hesson’s name, which did not go down well with the netizens who took to twitter to vent out their frustration.
Former India cricketers Lalchand Rajput and Robin Singh were the other two shortlisted candidates apart from Shastri, Hesson and Moody. Former West Indian cricketer Phil Simmons pulled out at the last moment.
This will be Shastri’s fourth stint with the national team, having served briefly as the Cricket Manager (2007 tour of Bangladesh), Team Director (2014-2016) and head coach (2017-2019).
“Shastri’s presentation was about what he did in the last two years and the way forward for the Indian team,” Dev told reporters at a hotel overlooking the Arabian Sea.
“The system was simple. After a meeting of almost six hours, all three of us had our markings. We unanimously decided after accounting for all the numbers… number one is Ravi Shastri.
“We didn’t discuss who is giving whom how many marks. When we calculated it was a close race, the difference was small and we were amazed.”
Shastri’s next assignment will be the home series against South Africa, who will play three T20 internationals and three tests starting next month.
The contracts of Shastri and his team were set to expire after the 50-overs World Cup but they were handed an extension until the ongoing tour of the West Indies, where Virat Kohli’s men still have to play two tests.
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