Reports: Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri do not seek the services of Dravid and Zaheer

Although all the appointments to the Indian Cricket Team’s coaching staff have been made, the drama and suspense is far from finished. News of a rift between Anil Kumble and Virat Kohli had emerged during the build-up to the Champions Trophy 2017 when it was reported that Kohli would leave the net session once Kumble walked in. The reports of their dwindling relationship kept emerging throughout the Champions Trophy until finally, Kumble resigned two days before the West Indies tour.

Later Shastri applied for the post, became the front-runner and got elected. And it was widely speculated that Kohli, who shares a good rapport with Shastri, had plotted Kumble’s exit and Shastri’s subsequent appointment. When the former team director was appointed, the new head coach, it was also revealed that Rahul Dravid and Zaheer Khan were appointed as the batting and bowling consultants respectively. But later, news had it that Shastri wanted Bharat Arun to become the full-time bowling coach, and as we saw, he had his way.

There is no end to the drama, and as per Republic.tv, Kohli and Shastri both do not want the services of either Dravid or Zaheer in the near future. The report states, “The cricketing legends who were earlier expected to undertake the role of bowling coach and batting consultant for overseas Test tours, respectively, have been sidelined at the mercy of the skipper and the coach.”

Shastri dictating his own terms?

It also says that the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) that consists of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman picked the new head coach and finalised on Dravid and Zaheer after discussion with Shastri. But later on, he started dictating his own terms and brought Arun into the team instead.

As for the batting department, Sanjay Bangar who has been a part of the Indian setup since 2015 has been handed over the responsibility as the assistant coach is expected to double up as the batting coach for the team as well, the role he has handled in the past.

It will be interesting to see how things unfold here on as the Indian team has already landed in Sri Lanka for their first assignment under the new coach that gets underway from July 26.