Former India opener WV Raman has been appointed as the head coach of Indian women’s cricket team, a source from the Board of control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed to news agency PTI on Thursday.
Earlier, India men’s former World Cup-winning coach Gary Kirsten and Raman had been shortlisted from possible 28 candidates for the post of the women’s head coach.
The ad-hoc committee, which was appointed by the BCCI to interview and shortlist the candidates for the job and comprised of former captain Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy, had recommended the shortlisted names to the cricket board.
Reports, however, suggested that uncertainty remains over Kirsten’s appointment because the South African is not ready to give up his role as the head coach of the Indian Premier League franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore. Attempts are being made to convince him.
Among the other shortlisted candidates interviewed are Venkatesh Prasad, Manoj Prabhakar, Trent Johnston, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Brad Hogg and Kalpana Venkatachar.
It was under Kirsten’s guidance that India won their second ICC World Cup in 2011. He coached the Indian men’s team from 2008 to 2011 before taking over the reins at South Africa. He coached them from 2011 to 2013 and is currently the head coach of the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The BCCI had invited fresh candidates for the post of women’s cricket team head coach after interim coach Ramesh Powar’s tenure had ended on November 30. Powar’s tenure had come to an abrupt end following his clash with senior player Mithali Raj, who criticised him and accused him of trying to end her career.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) had formed an ad-hoc committee on November 11 to interview the candidates. The final interviews of the shortlisted candidates were scheduled to be held today.
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