REVEALED: Why Sourav Ganguly was not responsible for Ravi Shastri losing out

New Delhi: The selection process to appoint India's new coach was supposed to be transparent and fair.

But unfortunately for the BCCI, it has now turned into yet another controversy.

It all started after Ravi Shastri accused Sourav Ganguly of being disrespectful to him by not being present during the interview.

After a few days of silence, Dada hit back at the former team director. If Shastri was serious, he should have been present in Kolkata and not in Thailand, said the former India captain.

From Ravi's statements, one got the feeling that he pinned the blame of not getting the top job due to Ganguly's views or opinion.

Ganguly himself stated that Ravi was living in a fool's world if he thought that.

In fact, BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke on Wednesday told the Times of India that not just Ganguly but also Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman favored Anil Kumble over Shastri.

“Let me make it clear to you that it was not only Ganguly but all the four members of our Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) were in favour of Kumble becoming the coach of the Indian team. Kumble was the unanimous choice. So, Ganguly missing the interview, for which he had taken prior permission, didn't make any difference to the process or the result, which would have gone in Kumble's favour in any case,“ Shirke told TOI.

Some believed there was a split in the CAC over the choice of coach. However Shirke's clarification has now put those rumors to rest.

Interestingly, India's Test skipper Virat Kohli was not consulted by the BCCI or CAC before making the final decision.

“Virat Kohli wasn't consulted. The decision was solely made by the board's CAC,“ he said.