'Players won't be directly involved in coach selection'

AHMEDABAD, May 21: Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Niranjan Shah has ruled out the chance of a player being directly involved in the selection of India's new coach.
Shah told TOI on Monday: "The opinion of some senior players may be taken before the coach's final selection, but the cricketers will not be allowed to sit with the BCCI's coach's committee while they discuss matters involving the choosing of the coach."
Shah was reacting to a statement Sachin Tendulkar had made in Dhaka after scoring his 36th Test century on Saturday, in which the batsman had said that he wanted players' views to be considered while selecting the national coach.
India's millions of cricket aficionados will know on June 10 or 12 who the next coach of the national team will be, Shah said.
While making it amply clear that no names had been shortlisted, and denying that Bangladesh's Dav Whatmore was the firm favourite to bag the job, Shah said: "On June 4 the selectors will decide upon the modalities of picking the new official and the name of the chosen one will be announced between June 10 and 12."
Shah admitted he had met Whatmore in Bangladesh and they had discussed the coaching issue briefly. But, he said, the procedure to pick the man to succeed Greg Chappell was "not a simple one" and everything depended upon the committee — comprising Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, S Venkataraghavan and four BCCI office-bearers — who "will first meet on June 4 and spell out their plans to the media.
The new coach could be a foreigner or he could be an Indian," Shah added. "The committee may have other names (than Whatmore) with them, other ideas, so I can't really be specific."
The BCCI secretary also disagreed with the notion that Indian cricketers were playing too much and getting injury prone. "Other countries are playing as much as us," he countered. "Anyway, we are having a camp exclusively for bowlers in the first week of June, where emphasis will be laid on the players' fitness."
The unfit Munaf Patel, Shah added, would go through the usual round of being checked up by Board doctor Anant Joshi and the team physio before being pronounced fit, or unfit. Shah also parried questions about the newly-formed Indian Cricket League.
BCCI claims more backing for Pawar's ICC bid
The BCCI clarified on Monday that it had garnered enough support get president Sharad Pawar elected as the head of the International Cricket Council (ICC). Secretary Shah said: "The BCCI president becoming ICC president is very important. Cricket is the most popular game in India so why not a president from India?"
"Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and South Africa are supporting Pawar so why should the next ICC president not be from India," he added.