“There is no such thing as a contract yet”

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Upon Ravi Shastri being unveiled as India’s new head coach, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed that Rahul Dravid would be the overseas Test batting consultant and Zaheer Khan the bowling consultant.

Dravid and Zaheer were appointed to their respective positions on July 11, but it is understood that Shastri wanted to pick his own support staff.

According to Vinod Rai, the chairman of the committee of administrators (CoA), Shastri is set to be granted permission to choose the people that work with him as that had been decided “in consultation with the head coach already”.

“There is no such thing as a contract yet,” Rai said. “It is not an appointment. The recommendation has been made. And the CoA has to act on the recommendation. That recommendation will be acted upon in consultation with the head coach.

“The support staff has been decided in consultation with the head coach already. There is going to be a core support staff, which will be fielding, batting and bowling, which has been decided. Any other ancillary etc, he [Shastri] will be coming back tomorrow [from England] and we will decide.”

It has been reported that Shastri wants Bharat Arun back as India’s bowling coach.

As for Dravid and Zaheer, a committee has been formed to decide whether they will be needed at all.