New Delhi: The Indian cricket team will soon get a new head coach — unless, of course, the incumbent Ravi Shastri is reappointed.
The BCCI’s Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) has shortlisted six candidates for the top post — Shastri, Tom Moody, Phil Simmons, Mike Hesson, Robin Singh and Lalchand Rajput. Shastri got an automatic entry into the selection process.
The Board had received over 2,000 applications for different coaching positions with the Indian team, with the contracts of the current staff having run out after the 2019 World Cup, and an extension being granted only for the ongoing tour of the USA and the West Indies.
ThePrint takes a look at the playing and coaching careers of the shortlisted six.
Ravi Shastri
The former all-rounder and broadcaster got the top job after Anil Kumble resigned from the position in 2017, having served as Team Director previously.
Shasti’s tenure as head coach has produced mixed results as the team lost away Test series against South Africa and England, but won a series in Australia for the first time. The Indian team is also comfortably placed at the top of the Test rankings and is second in ODIs, though the semifinal exit at the World Cup despite being one of the favourites can be counted as another disappointment.
As a player, Shastri was one of the mainstays of the Indian lineup, and played 80 Tests and 150 ODIs before injuries cut short his career. He scored 3,830 runs in Tests at 35.79 with 11 centuries, and also took 151 wickets. In ODIs, he scored 3,108 runs at 29.04 with four centuries. He also took 129 wickets in this format.
Tom Moody
Former Australian all-rounder Tom Moody brings vast coaching experience with him in international as well as franchise T20 cricket. He guided Sri Lanka to the 2007 World Cup final, where it lost to Australia. He has also worked with IPL franchises Kings XI Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad — the latter replaced him with England’s World Cup-winning coach Trevor Bayliss in July.
Moody’s stint with the Hyderabad franchise was quite successful, with five playoff appearances in seven years and tournament winner in 2016.
Moody was also in contention for India’s head coach job in 2005, when he lost out to fellow Aussie Greg Chappell.
Long before his success as coach, Moody had a middling international career bookended by World Cup triumphs in 1987 and 1999. He played eight Tests, scoring 456 runs at 32.57 with two centuries, and 76 ODIs, with 1,211 runs at 23.28 and 52 wickets.
Phil Simmons
Former West Indies opener Phil Simmons has also enjoyed a very successful coaching career, making a host of ‘lesser’ teams punch above their weight.
After a disastrous first stint with Zimbabwe in 2007, he took over the Ireland team which had made noise by upsetting Pakistan and qualifying for the Super Eights at their World Cup debut. Simmons guided Ireland to historic wins over England in the 2011 World Cup and West Indies and Zimbabwe in the 2015 edition. He coached the West Indies to ICC World T20 glory in 2016, before being appointed head coach of Afghanistan in 2017.
However, even before the start of the World Cup, Simmons had announced his plans to step down after it.
Simmons played 26 Tests and 143 ODIs for the West Indies, scoring 1,002 runs at 22.26 and 3,675 runs at 28.93 respectively. He was also a useful seam bowler in ODIs, bagging 83 wickets.
Mike Hesson
He is best known as the coach who took New Zealand to their first World Cup final in 2015. However, his stint with New Zealand hadn’t started on a particularly good note, and he was widely seen as having played a role in Ross Taylor’s unceremonious removal from captaincy in favour of Brendon McCullum. The change, however, reversed the flagging fortunes of the Kiwis.
Hesson, now 44, has spent literally half his life as a coach, starting with a seven-year apprenticeship with the Otago cricket team in New Zealand. Later, as head coach, he transformed Otago into a unit which regularly competed for domestic titles.
In 2011, he became coach of Kenya, though he resigned within a year citing security reasons.
Robin Singh
Since his retirement from all forms of cricket in 2004, the former India all-rounder has been extensively involved in coaching. He served as fielding coach of the national side between 2007 and 2009, and has also helmed India’s Under-19 and ‘A’ teams. He also had a long coaching association with the Mumbai Indians.
Singh played 136 ODIs and a lone Test for India. In ODIs, he scored 2,336 runs at 25.95 with one hundred, also taking 69 wickets.
Lalchand Rajput
Presently the coach of the Zimbabwe national side, Rajput has been associated with Afghanistan, Mumbai Indians, and served as manager of the national side for a brief period, during which India won the inaugural ICC World T20 in 2007.
In 2016, he was appointed as the head coach of the Afghanistan national side, and saw the team become an ICC full member under his tenure. But his contract was not extended next year.
Rajput played just two Tests and four ODIs for India, with meagre returns.
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