The Board of Control for Cricket India (BCCI) has received over 3,000 applications for the Team India head coach post. While there are a handful of genuine applications, it is being reported that most of these applications have been made from fake names of former cricketing greats and current politicians.
As the last date of the applying for the post of senior Indian men's cricket team ended on May 27 (Monday), a report carried by Indian Express has claimed that the BCCI has received applications in the names of 'Sachin Tendulkar', 'MS Dhoni', 'Harbhajan Singh' and 'Virender Sehwag' among othr former India cricketers when the reality remains that none of them have actually applied. The applications have been made by imposters.
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The list of fake applications also include those from the names of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. Notably, the BCCI had invited applications for the job on Google Forms which is why it was easier for anyone in the public domain to apply.
"Last year too, the BCCI received such a response where imposters applied and the story is similar this time. The reason the BCCI had to invite applications on Google forms is it’s easy to scrutinise the names of applicants in one sheet," a BCCI official was quoted in the same report by the abovementioned publication.
BCCI Looking For Candidate Who Can Take Up The Role Till 2027
As the BCCI invited applications for the head coach position, it clearly mentioned that it was interested in someone willing to take up the role till the ODI World Cup 2027. The new head coach will replace Rahul Dravid, who has decided against staying renewing his contract, from July 1 with his term set to expire on December 31, 2027.
Among the BCCI's eligibility criteria, the person should be below 60 years of age and should have played at least 30 Test or 50 ODIs. In addition, he should have been in the coaching capacity for a full member test nation for a minumum of two years.