The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will elicit the terms and conditions of the two shortlisted foreign coaches during its special meeting at Chennai on October 23 and take a final decision after the formal procedures. ''On October 23, the board officials will only meet the two foreign coaches (Greg Chappel of Australia and John Wright of New Zealand) to get their terms and conditions. These will be then referred to the board's working committee and finance committee for approval,'' said BCCI Secretary Lele who is here to watch India play in the tri-series involving Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. He is flying to Chennai on Sunday to attend the meeting to be chaired by BCCI President A C Muthiah. Lele said that former BCCI chief Raj Singh Dungarpur and former Indian captain-turned ICC Umpire S Venkataraghavan would also attend the meeting.
''The selection of the foreign coach will take some time. A number of committees would have to scrutinize the terms and conditions since foreign exchange was involved. We have to analyse the financial implications before taking a decision,'' Lele said scoffing at reports that Dungarpur was set to interview Chappel and Wright on October 23 and select either of the two as the Indian coach.
Lele did not agree with Dungarpur's reported comments that Indian coaches could be biased towards certain players because of their regional affiliations. ''I do not agree with this,'' Lele said, but shied away from assigning the reasons for the board to go in for a foreign coach.
Some senior players of the Indian team have been demanding the appointment of a foreign coach for some time now. Skipper Sourav Ganguly, however, refused to say anything when asked about it on the arrival of the team in Sharjah.
Asked whether the foreign coach will have a say in the team selection process, the BCCI secretary said,'' as per the rules, only the captain is part of the selection process. The coach is invited as a convention and we will continue with it.''


Bureau Report