‘Kohli won’t have a say in choosing new head coach’

NEW DELHI: Unlike last time, captain Virat Kohli will have no say in the selection of the Indian team’s new head coach, a senior BCCI official told The Indian Express.

The final decision will be taken by a steering committee, headed by former India skipper Kapil Dev, and approved by the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), the official said according to the newspaper.

“Last time, the captain [Kohli] had expressed his difficulty, or the team’s difficulty, with former coach Anil Kumble. In the new selection process, he will have absolutely no say with regards to who becomes the coach. This time, we have Kapil Dev in the coach selection committee, and he will not listen to him [Kohli],” the official, who did not wish to be named, said.

In another departure from the process followed last time, the BCCI has decided that the senior selection committee will pick the support staff to assist the coach.

“Support staff will be picked by the selection committee. Normally, we allow the head coach to do that [pick the support staff] for team building. This time, if the head coach is selected [before the selection of the support staff], he might join the process,” the BCCI official further said.

Kumble had quit as head coach following the 2017 Champions Trophy after Kohli expressed reservations over his “style” of functioning. Ravi Shastri was then picked as the new coach, and contracted till the 2019 World Cup, where India lost to New Zealand in the semi-final. The CoA has given the coaching staff a 45-day extension for the West Indies tour that starts on Aug 3.

It is learnt that the BCCI aims to appoint the new coach before the home series against South Africa starting on Sept 15. Shastri and the other coaching staff — assistant coach Sanjay Bangar, bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar — will automatically enter the new staff selection process, but will still have to re-apply.