Sandeep Patil expressed his desire to become Indian coach

Sandeep Patil, former India cricketer and the current chairman of selectors of the national side, is keen on becoming the Indian coach. The BCCI had previously put out nine-point criteria (preferences) that the candidates require fulfilling.

The main point in that was, the coach to be able to converse in Hindi and other local languages. However, the statement also said that it is not mandatory, it will just earn some points for the candidate.

“I have just applied (for the post),” Patil told PTI on Saturday. Patil had coached Indian team previously for a short period of 6 months in 1996.

Ravi Shastri had served as the director of the Indian team after the departure of Zimbabwean Duncan Fletcher. Shastri had a good run as the Indian team director. In that time period, India won the ODI series against England, became the first team to whitewash Australia in Australia in any format (3-0 in T20Is), winning Test series in Sri Lanka after 22 years, beating South Africa in a Test series at home after a long, winning the Asia Cup T20 and progressing to the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2016.

Also Read: BCCI eye Indian coach to bridge language barrier

The BCCI also wants the coach to “demonstrate plans and ability to contribute to the NCA Cricket Development Programs and forecasting/planning to develop the next generation cricketer and agree to make themselves available for the NCA, as and when they are not with the team” and Patil, former director of the NCA, fits for that as well.

Another criterion of the board was that the candidates should preferably be certified, coaches. “It is preferred that the candidate should be qualified through a certification/assessment program conducted by any of the full member countries and currently possess such a valid certification,” where Shastri was not a certified coach. It’s not mandatory but preferable.