The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Kirsten may take over as coach

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Wednesday, Nov 28, 2007
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Kirsten may take over as coach

Special Correspondent

— FILE PHOTO: AFP

THE CHOSEN ONE: The BCCI has zeroed in on South Africa’s Gary Kirsten as the coach of the Indian cricket team.

New Delhi: Gary Kirsten is set to be India’s next cricket coach. The South African has been given a week’s time to confirm his acceptance after a successful interview here on Monday evening.

Kirsten is said to be a popular choice, with the senior players giving their consent following a strong recommendation by the coach selection committee comprising former captains S. Venkatraghavan, Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri, BCCI joint secretary Mahendra Pandove, treasurer N. Srinivasan and secretary Niranjan Shah.

Mr. Pandove could not attend the meeting where India captain Anil Kumble was a special invitee.

Experience

The 40-year-old Kirsten played 101 Tests and scored 7,289 runs at 45.27 with 21 centuries and 185 one-day internationals scoring 6,798 runs at 40.95 with 13 centuries. He quit in 2004 and worked as Cricket South Africa’s high performance manager.

“He was interviewed by the coach selection committee and everyone was satisfied at the end of it. It is for Gary to decide. We have asked him to confirm the offer within a week,” said BCCI Vice-president Rajiv Shukla here on Tuesday.

India had to do with stop-gap arrangements like former Test captain Chandu Borde and former Test batsman Lalchand Rjput as cricket manager for some time after Graham Ford, also a South African, left the Board in embarrassment by refusing to take the job after having been interviewed and selected.

Obviously the Board does not want a similar situation to develop and has asked Kirsten to confirm his acceptance within a week. The Board is keen to appoint a full-fledged coach for the tour to Australia instead of having another stop-gap arrangement.

The Board had received 22 applications for the job but the coach selection committee was not impressed by the list of candidates. “We had given Gavaskar, Venkatraghavan and Shastri the responsibility of identifying a coach who would be acceptable to the players and also deliver the goods,” said Mr. Shukla. The Board and the senior players were keen to have a coach who was well versed with the demands of the modern game. Kumble’s inputs were reportedly very important in the Board agreeing to Kirsten as the best candidate available. The South African was not one of the applicants for the job, but was approached to take it up.

Special Correspondent adds from Mumbai

New u-19 coach

Meanwhile, it is understood that the BCCI would look for a new coach for the India under-19 team in the event of Lalchand Rajput not agreeing to coach the junior team for the tri-series featuring India, Bangladesh and South Africa in South Africa (January 2 to 8, 2008) and the ICC under-19 World Cup in Malaysia from February 17 to March 2.

The BCCI has already asked Rajput (during the one-day international against Pakistan at Mohali) to take charge of the u-19 team immediately after the third Test against Pakistan at Bangalore.

It’s learnt that Rajput has not responded favourably to work with the junior team.

“Rajput’s appointment as the cricket manager of the Indian team was a temporary arrangement. Mahendra Pandove (BCCI Joint Secretary) is in touch with him,” the BCCI official said.

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