Reports: Sourav Ganguly and Ravi Shastri were once again involved in a heated argument

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly and the new head coach Ravi Shastri’s heated relationship, which came to the forefront last year during the selection of the head coach, was apparently still as heated and was noticeable during the selection process for Anil Kumble’s successor. The argument was over the selection of the bowling coach.

If reports are to be believed, there were quite a few arguments with regards to the selection of the bowling coach. Both Shastri and Ganguly had different opinions of who should be appointed as the bowling coach. While the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) member was in favour of Zaheer Khan, who eventually was chosen for the post, Shastri wanted Bharat Arun to be appointed as the bowling coach till the 2019 World Cup.

Earlier, five applicants were interviewed on Monday for the post of the head coach. These include Richard Pybus, Lalchand Rajput, Tom Moody, Virender Sehwag and Ravi Shastri. The interviews were conducted by the CAC consisting of VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.

War of words 

It can be recalled that last year, both the former Indian cricketers were involved in an open verbal spat which was triggered by Shastri’s non-appointment as the head coach. Back then, the former Team director had appeared for the interview over Skype from Bangkok where he was holidaying with his family. This laid back attitude of not appearing for the interview in person didn’t go down well with Ganguly, after which there was a spat of sorts between the two.

As for now, Shastri’s first major assignment will be the tour to Sri Lanka towards the end of this month. Since he shares a very good and friendly relationship with Indian captain Virat Kohli, one can expect a good partnership between the coach and captain for the next two years.