New coach only after England tour
A new coach for the Indian cricket team will be appointed after the Ireland and England tours, according to Niranjan Shah, the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)
Cricinfo staff
13-Jun-2007
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Speaking to rediff.com, Shah indicated that the BCCI were cautious following the rejection of the post by Graham Ford. The South African had been appointed as coach on Saturday following the BCCI's selection panel interviews with Ford and former English spinner John Emburey.
Shah felt that the team could manage on the tough tour to England without a coach. "The manager Chandu Borde is highly experienced, both as a player and as an administrator, to handle everything. Besides, we're sending Venkatesh Prasad and Robin Singh as bowling and fielding coaches respectively with the squad. There are already many experienced players in the side and they too can always guide and help the younger members of the team."
He also dismissed the speculation in some television news channels that former Test cricketers Gundappa Vishwanath and S Venkataraghavan were prospective candidates for the position. "We have the utmost respect for Viswanath, Venkataraghavan and others, whose names have been discussed in certain sections of the media to coach India. But, frankly, we have never discussed their names and they are rumours only."
On whether the new coach would be an Indian, Shah said, "Whether an Indian or a foreigner will be appointed coach of India will be decided later on. Let me reiterate, we really want to be very, very careful now when it comes to appointing the coach of India."
Shah's statements also suggested that the position was not going to be offered to Emburey. "We don't want to appoint anyone, whether he is an Indian or a foreigner. Not even Emburey for that matter. Let the squad return from the twin tour [of Ireland and England]. Only then, the BCCI will take up the issue of the new coach. We have full confidence in Chandu Borde, Venkatesh Prasad, Robin Singh and, of course, Rahul Dravid and his team."