Former Indian fast bowler Bharat Arun has been appointed as India”s bowling coach till 2019 World Cup. Ravi Shastri last week had vowed to fight to bring Arun into the setup.
There were talks about former legendary cricketers Rahul Dravid and Zaheer Khan stepping into the shoes of batting and bowling consultants respectively. Shastri is absolutely glad to have them and they could be just one step away from appointment i.e. discussion with COA. Sanjay Bangar has been appointed as an assistant coach while R Sridhar is retained as fielding coach.
“I”ve spoken to both, as recent as three to four days ago and they are two fantastic cricketers of India. Their inputs will be invaluable. They will be on board once they have spoken to the authorities concerned,” Shastri said.
Meanwhile, Patrick Farhat will continue as the physio of the Indian team till 2019 World Cup and Shankar Basu has been appointed as the trainer.
Acting BCCI Secretary Amitabh Choudhary quoted, “In the first place, I”m absolutely clear in my view that it was not a fiasco. As Ravi explained, once he was announced he obviously had to think of his responsibilities “That they will speak. It all depends on the individuals, how many numbers of days they want to give. But their inputs will be invaluable and they”re most welcome. And I”ve spoken to both gentlemen personally. come with that appointment. And as he”s made so abundantly clear that he wanted his core team. The other two gentlemen he”s spoken to, they will be consultants and their contributions are going to be invaluable.”
There were talks about Rahul and Zaheer”s availability throughout the year. It is believed that Zaheer may not be available for the entire year while Rahul has got a U-19 Indian team to coach as well. Shastri said he will leave that to concerned authorities, “That they will speak. It all depends on the individuals, how many numbers of days they want to give. But their inputs will be invaluable and they”re most welcome. And I”ve spoken to both gentlemen personally.”
– by Atharva Apte