Former India all-rounder Sanjay Bangar, the assistant coach of the Indian team for the past 18 months, has been given charge of the squad for the limited-overs series in Zimbabwe. Bangar’s Railways teammate, Abhay Sharma, has been appointed fielding coach for the series starting on June 11.
While announcing the coaching staff appointment in a statement, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) did not elaborate why it re-appointed only one of the four members of the coaching staff whose tenure came to an end with India’s last assignment — the World Twenty20. K. Ramesh from Andhra will accompany the team as manager.
The Hindu understands that since it is a short series, the BCCI deemed it fit to send only a small group of support staff. The presence of Mahendra Singh Dhoni was also factored in, according to a BCCI insider. Abhay has earlier been associated with the Indian women’s and India-A teams, and has got a positive feedback from the players. Since most of those selected for the Zimbabwe tour have been regulars with India-A over the last four years, the comfort level is likely to be high on both sides during the tour which will feature three ODIs and as many T20Is.
When India toured Zimbabwe for a short series last year, all the three assistant coaches — Bangar (batting), B. Arun (bowling) and R. Sridhar (fielding) — had travelled with the squad, while team director Ravi Shastri was given a break. With the BCCI inviting applications (deadline June 10) for all the coaching posts, Thursday’s announcement may lead to murmurs that the BCCI is not in favour of Shastri, Arun and Sridhar.
However, a BCCI functionary clarified that the Zimbabwe appointments will not have any bearing while deciding the full-time coaches.
It is understood that all the assistant coaches have decided to apply for the coaching roles. It will be interesting to see if Shastri formally applies for the post of head coach.
Though Shastri had expressed his willingness to continue with the team, the BCCI has avoided a closed-door appointment and sought applications.
