BCCI replace Zaheer Khan, Rahul Dravid with Bharath Arun & Sanjay Bangar, bows down to Ravi Shastri

India's Head Coach finally got what he wanted as Bharath Arun has been appointed as India's bowling coach till ICC World Cup 2019

By: Arun Rawal |
July 18, 2017 5:04 pm

Tags: BCCI, Rahul Dravid, Zaheer Khan,

BCCI in a press conference appointed Bharath Arun as India’s bowling coach, Sanjay Bangar as the assistant coach. Indian Cricket Team’s physio Patrick Farhat, trainer Shankar Basu and fielding coach R Sridhar have given extended contracts of 2 years. BCCI’s secretary Amitabh Choudhary made the announcement as he shared the stage with India’s Head Coach Ravi Shastri and CEO Rahul Johri. Shastri made a few strong statements in the press conference as he emphasised on the fact that he has spoken to ‘both the individuals’ (Rahul Dravid and Zaheer Khan). Shastri also cleared the air and said their inputs will be invaluable, it is upto them how many days they want to give.

Shastri was aggressive in his statements to media stating the fact that “he had a core team in my mind and what you just heard is my core team”. Zaheer and Dravid will work as consultants, clarified Amitabh Chaudhary when the question was directed towards him as to why the coaches were changed after Shastri’s appointment as coach.

There was no mention of the Team Manager of Indian Cricket Team as it still needs to be decided whether who will be appointed for the job.

BCCI has appointed Sanjay Bangar as the assistant coach and Bharat Arun as the bowling coach till next World Cup. pic.twitter.com/vgVO0PLmuz

— ANI (@ANI_news) July 18, 2017

Towards the end of the press conference, Shastri thanked CAC (Cricket Advisory Committee) comprising of former Indian cricketers Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman for appointing him as the Head Coach. Apart from Shastri, former Indian cricketers Virender Sehwag, Lalchand Rajput, former Australian cricketer Tom Moody, former Pakistan and Bangladesh coach Richard Pybus and former West Indies coach Phil Simmons.

Earlier CAC had appointed Zaheer as bowling coach and Dravid as batting coach who will be guiding the team for overseas tournaments. As per reports, Shastri was unhappy by the number of days that they were willing to give the team. The Head Coach wanted someone who was willing to invest more time.