India's next coach: BCCI official reveals two questions which candidates were asked during interview

PTI

New Delhi: The anxious wait for Team India's next head coach continues as BCCI's Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) has withheld the decision after hours of long meeting on Monday, at the board headquarters in Mumbai.

The CAC comprising Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, has so far interviewed just five candidates, namely Ravi Shastri, Virender Sehwag, Lalchand Rajput, Richard Pybus and Tom Moody. The sixth participant, Phil Simmons was however unavailable.

In a press conferenece after the all-important meeting, Sourav Ganguly said, "What we have decided is that we will hold on for the time being for the announcement of the coach. We need a few more days to talk to a few more people, especially the captain before making an announcement."

Ganguly further added that,"We feel there's no hurry at the moment and with the Sri Lankan tour coming up and the board headed by Amitabh Choudhary, Rahul Johri, Vinod Rai and the other concerned persons will probably continue with the same set for the time being."

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It has however been learnt that each of the interview went for at least more than an hour with all interviewees asked two basic questions.

"There were two basic questions that every candidate was asked. The first was their vision going into 2019 World Cup in England and secondly the role of a coach compared to the captain. They were asked how would they handle delicate situations as and when it arises," a top BCCI official told PTI.

He further added, "Obviously, the coach-captain relationship is one aspect where all five candidates were grilled. The three CAC members all took turns to ask some tough but relevant questions to check their preparedness. What was impressive to find out was that everyone seemed keen to get the job which reflected in their performance."

PTI leaned from his sources that the top three presentations for the day were given by Richard Pybus, Tom Moody and Ravi Shastri.

"Some of the presentations were excellent. Pybus and Moody, in particular, were really well prepared with answers for tough questions. Ravi and Viru also gave elaborate answers on some of the tricky issues," informed the source.