Kapil Dev-led CAC trolled for misspelling Mike Hesson’s name in BCCI letter

The drama and chaos surrounding the appointment of India’s head coach came to an end on Friday, August 16. Ravi Shastri, who was firstly appointed after Anil Kumble resigned in 2017, retained his position in the coaching role. The Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) conducted interviews of five candidates following which the decision to persist with Shastri was zeroed in on.

The panel consisted of the likes of Kapil Dev, the 1983 World Cup-winning skipper, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy. The other four candidates were Mike Hesson, Tom Moody, Robin Singh and Lalchand Rajput. Shastri’s previous tenure expired after India’s campaign in the 2019 World Cup where the national team bowed out after the defeat in the semis.

Shastri and the other support staff were given a 45-day extension period until the conclusion of the ongoing tour of the West Indies. Shastri has been appointed for a two-year period and will continue until the 2021 T20 World Cup in India. This will be Shastri’s fourth stint with the Indian team. Before being the head coach, he also served as the team manager and the team director.

Mike Hesson finishes second as preferred candidates

When he was picked first time as the head coach, the CAC comprised of the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman. As far as the recent interview process is concerned, Hesson and Moody were the other two close contenders. Earlier former West Indies cricketer Phil Simmons withdrew his name from the same, citing personal reasons.

“Number three was Tom Moody, number two was Mike Hesson. Number one is Ravi Shastri as all of you were expecting… (But) It was a very close race,”  Kapil was quoted as saying at a press conference in Mumbai where the decision was put forth.

In the meantime, the CAC was a recipient of severe criticism from the netizens. In the official recommendation, which was made public by the world’s richest cricket board, the CAC wrongly spelt Mike Hesson’s surname and wrote ‘Hassen’. The horrendous error in the official letter didn’t go down well with Twitterati by any stretch of the imagination.

Here is how Twitter trolled CAC for the mistake