Team India is set to witness a transition at least in the T20 format with Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja announcing their retirement from the format after the team’s historic World Cup win in Barbados. The tournament also saw the end of head coach Rahul Dravid’s tenure since 2021. His tenure had officially ended last year after the ODI World Cup but was extended until the T20 World Cup.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had advertised for the top position more than a month ago and the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) also interviewed the candidates including Gautam Gambhir who is suspected to take over. But the BCCI Secretary Jay Shah has kept all the cards related to the same close to his chest and has cleared the air stating that the announcement of the new head coach will be made soon.
According to PTI, apart from Gambhir, former India women’s head coach WV Raman has also been interviewed for the role. Notably, a selector’s appointment is also pending and Jay Shah has assured of both appointments shortly once he and team India return home from the Barbados. He also confirmed that the new head coach’s first assignment will be Sri Lanka series while for the Zimbabwe tour, VVS Laxman will fill in as the head coach.
“Both coach and selector appointment will be made shortly. CAC has interviewed and shortlisted two names and after reaching Mumbai whatever they have decided we will go by that. VVS Laxman is going to Zimbabwe but new coach will join from Sri Lanka series,” Jay Shah said.
For the unversed, Team India squad, along with the media and even Jay Shah, has been stuck in Barbados at the moment with the landfall of hurricane Beryl. The airport in Barbados has been shut down until further notice and the BCCI is likely to arrange the charter flight for all of them.