As captain, Kohli has every right to have a say in the coach selection process, says Sourav Ganguly

08/01/2019

Sourav Ganguly. on Wednesday. said that as the leader of the team, Virat Kohli had every right to voice his opinion in the coach selection process. At the press conference ahead of team India’s departure for the West Indies tour, Kohli had backed Ravi Shastri to continue as India head coach.

While all coaching and support staff positions are open for interested candidates, the head coach position is the one being talked about most. While the Cricket Advisory Committee – in charge of selecting the coaches – had commented that they would remain neutral to the process, Ganguly referred to Kohli’s comments in a positive manner.

"He is the captain. He has got every right to say," Ganguly told PTI, reported TOI.

Ganguly was part of the CAC – the other members being Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman – which picked Shastri as the head coach in 2017. This time, the panel comprises of Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad, and Shantha Rangaswamy.

Gaekwad, although suggesting that it is unlikely for Shastri not to continue, had said earlier that the panel would be completely impartial to all the candidates. After Kohli’s media interaction, the former India coach stands by his opinion.

"See, whatever (Virat) Kohli or (Ravi) Shastri may say, we have to adhere to BCCI. He was asked about his preference (at the press conference) and Kohli gave his preference for Ravi Shastri. We have nothing to do with that. We are neutral and we would go with an open mind," Gaekwad said.

It is worth mentioning that the same panel had picked the women’s coach last year, in a process that sparked a lot of controversy. However, the panel held the same views then as they do now.

"There's no question of what Kohli says or anybody says. If you remember the appointment of women's coach, there was a lot of controversy. But we didn't take anyone's opinion," Gaekwad added.

When asked about Gaekwad’s statements, Ganguly refused to comment stating, "Every individual is different so I cannot comment," he said.