A couple of days after his appointment as the head coach, Ravi Shastri has made it clear that he wants men of his choice to be with the team on a full-time basis.

Even though he is cool with Zaheer Khan’s appointment, reports suggest, Shastri wants Bharat Arun to be the bowling coach of India. Sources reveal Shastri has vowed that he will fight to bring back Bharat Arun. Arun was India”s bowling coach in 2015-16 after Joe Dawes during Shastri”s stint as team director.

There are two things which concern Shastri; one is Zaheer Khan’s availability and other his coaching experience.“No doubt Zaheer has a lot of knowledge. But he has no coaching experience. Everyone saw what happened with Anil Kumble. He can be groomed into a bowling coach. Is Zaheer willing to give 250 days a year to the team? He can come in and help Arun in that case,” the source said.”

In an interview to TOI on Thursday, Shastri clearly stated that he was entitled to pick his support staff. However, it is believed that Shastri is not averse to the idea to have Zaheer as the bowling coach. “Shastri has asked for just one thing. He doesn”t mind Zaheer as a consultant. But Arun has more technical experience in ironing out flaws,” added a source.

Sources say Zaheer Khan may not be available for more than 100 days in the calendar year to coach India. Also, BCCI will have to pay him compensation, for he will be discharged from his IPL duties. “It will clearly overshoot the board”s budget. And it doesn”t look nice to have a major disparity in salaries of the support staff. It will be interesting once the contract is rolled out,” the official said.

– by Atharva Apte