ACB wanted me to live in Kabul and my denial for it was the reason for non-extension of contract: Lalchand Rajput

The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has decided against extending head coach Lalchand Rajput’s contract and therefore he won’t hold the designation of ‘national coach’ after August. Rajput was serving as the coach since June last year.

The former Indian batsman had a successful tenure with the Afghan team, as they secured Full Membership at ICC and won 6 out of 10 series across formats. They made their debut at Lord’s against the MCC. And apart from that, the team have registered victories against West Indies, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

“Since Afghanistan were doing so well, the board officials wanted me to come and live in Kabul to coach not only their team, but also to have a look at domestic players as well. I told them that staying in Kabul is out of the question, so that was the main reason why they didn’t extend my contract,” Rajput told mid-day yesterday.

Enjoyed his term

The former Mumbai coach, who took over from ex-Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq last year, said he enjoyed his spell with the team.

“ACB would like to thank Mr. Rajput for his satisfactory performance during his time as Afghanistan’s Head Coach,” a statement read. “ACB is currently in the process of recruiting a new coach for the National Cricket Team.” Afghanistan are likely to play their first Test match against Zimbabwe, later this year.

He held the position of cricket manager of the Indian cricket team during India’s famous World T20 victory in South Africa in 2007. And he was the manager till the Australian series down under in 2007-08. After a successful tenure as the manager, Rajput was appointed as the coach of the IPL team Mumbai Indians, during the inaugural season in 2008. He also drove himself into controversy, when he didn’t restrain Harbhajan Singh, during the Harbhajan-Sreesanth infamous fight post an IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab.