press trust of india
New Delhi, June 2: Ravi Shastri was retained Tuesday as the director of the Indian cricket team for the tour of Bangladesh starting June 10 as the BCCI continued its search for a new permanent coach to succeed Duncan Fletcher.
“The BCCI wishes to inform that Mr Ravi Shastri, former India captain, has been appointed as director of the Indian cricket team for the tour of Bangladesh, starting June 10, 2015,” BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur said in a statement.
“Mr Sanjay Bangar, assistant coach (batting), Mr B Arun, assistant coach (bowling) and Mr R Sridhar, assistant coach (fielding), will assist Mr Shastri during the tour,” Thakur added.
Thakur said Shastri’s appointment was a stop-gap arrangement and the board will name a permanent coach later. The full-time coach’s appointment will be done after consulting the newly-formed advisory committee of the BCCI, which comprises Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman.
The delay in announcing Shastri’s name came as the former Indian captain had at first refused to accept the one-off assignment. However, after a telecon with Thakur and BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya, Shastri, who is currently in Dubai, agreed. Shastri will now cancel his planned holiday in London to join the players in Kolkata.
Shastri represented India in 80 Tests and 150 ODIs and was part of the side, which lifted the 1983 World Cup. He had also travelled with the Indian team to Bangla-desh in 2007 as cricket manager after Greg Chappell resigned from the coach’s post following the World Cup debacle that year.
Under Shastri’s guidance earlier this year, the Indian team lost the Test series in Australia 0-2 after a fighting performance but did not do well in the ODI triangular series. However, all that faded into oblivion as India marched into the World Cup semifinals with some commanding performances only to lose to eventual champions Australia.
