Anil Kumble resigns: Sachin Tendulkar influenced Ravi Shastri to apply for India coach, claims report

Former India captain and Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) member Sachin Tendulkar has entered fray and asked ex-India director Ravi Shastri to apply for post of the Indian cricket team head coach.

According to a report on  Times of India , the two are holidaying in London and it was Tendulkar who urged Shastri to reconsider his stance regarding the high profile job. Apparently, cricketer-turned-commentator Shastri had refused ’to stand in the queue’ for the vacant job stating that he was ignored in 2016 despite producing consistent results as the Team director.

It is known to everyone that Indian captain Virat Kohli enjoyed working with Shastri and he might have wanted him to be Kumble’s successor.  Considering that fact, Tendulkar spoke to the former all-rounder.

Interestingly, last year, Shastri was the front runner to be selected as India’s head coach and was also interviewed by CAC members Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman along with Kumble and others.  However, despite having Tendulkar’s backing, Kumble edged Shastri, through Ganguly and Laxman’s suppprt, to become the coach of the Indian cricket team.

Now the question which arises is whether Ganguly votes in Shastri’s favour after not doing so in 2016? This time though, the 55-year old can rest assured of having the support of Tendulkar and senior Indian players.

BCCI invited fresh applications on 23 June after Kumble stepped down. Virender Sehwag, Tom Moody, Lalchand Rajput, Richard Pybus and Dodda Ganesh, for now, are the five shortlisted candidates. The board decided to stretch the deadline for fresh applications to 9 July from 31 May, the move of which wasn’t appreciated by a few applicants .

Meanwhile, India fielding coach R Sridhar has come in support of Shastri , hinting at him being the better person to deal with the current Indian team than Kumble.