Dharamshala: Ending all speculations, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday appointed former India captain Anil Kumble as head coach of Indian cricket team.
Kumble has been given a one year contract, announced BCCI President Anurag Thakur in a press conference. Kumble has also been given the right to choose separate coaches of his choice for batting, bowling and fielding.
His first assignment will be India’s four-Test tour of West Indies.
As many as 57 candidates applied for the job. The list was then pruned to 21 by the BCCI and handed over to the three-member BCCI’s cricket advisory panel comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman. The panel then invited around 10 candidates for interviews in Kolkata on Tuesday.
“BCCI has been very transparent. We fixed a criteria. There was the CAC as well. They have gone through the process, interviewed and recommended few names. After discussions with various stakeholders, we have decided that Anil Kumble will be the head coach of the Indian cricket team for the next one year,” Thakur said.
“It is not about Indian or foreign, it is about who is best for the job. I think we have used the services of best players who have served Indian cricket. There was no such limitation that we have to have only an Indian coach. We wanted the best for the Indian team,” he added.
Though there were speculations about who would be Team India’s new coach, ABP News reported first that the former India leg-spinner Kumble was going to get a go ahead from the BCCI.
The 45-year-old Kumble pipped former Team Director Ravi Shastri, Australians Tom Moody and Stuart Law and a host of others to clinch the high-profile position following an elaborate selection process headed by a three-member Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC).
For many, Kumble’s application for the coach’s position was a surprise as he lacked coaching experience — a criterion required to be fulfilled by all the applicants. Kumble had never coached a side before this appointment but has been a mentor, first with Royal Challengers Bangalore and then Mumbai Indians, in the IPL.
However, Kumble’s 18-year-long international career where he was exceptional both as a player and captain worked in his favour. He finished as India’s highest wicket-taker in Tests, and the third-highest overall, with 619 wickets, including a best of 10 for 74 against Pakistan in Delhi in 1999.
The former leg-spinner played 132 Test matches and 271 ODIs in a career spanning close to two decades. Kumble finished his Test career with 619 scalps and accumulated 337 ODI wickets which put his combined tally at 956 in two formats. The leg-spinner was the only bowler after England’s Jim Laker to have taken all 10 wickets in a Test innings.