COA puts newly appointed coaching staff’s contract drafts on hold, Zaheer Khan may miss out: Report

The Committee of Administrators have asked the contracts of the Indian team’s newly appointed backroom staff to be put on hold, reported Times of India on Friday.

There has been ambiguity surrounding India’s backroom staff under new coach Ravi Shastri after the appointments of Rahul Dravid and Zaheer Khan as batting and bowling consultants, respectively. On Thursday, reports surfaced of Shastri wanting Bharat Arun as bowling coach. Proceedings in the board once again took an ugly turn when it was understood that the Supreme Court-ordered CoA were unhappy with the CAC’s involvement in selecting the assistant coaches of the team.

The CAC, late on Thursday, hit back at claims of them going beyond their brief, and in a letter, stated that all appointments were made after consulting Shastri. Arun, who served as the bowling coach during Shastri’s previous stint with the India, may end up working with the side after all, “The BCCI’S legal team was working on the contracts. But the CoA asked us to first show them the drafts.

Given the situation, it does look like Shastri’s wish to have Bharat Arun as a full-time bowling coach will be accepted. Doubts over Zaheer’s availability through the length of the season is also a major concern for the board. “And the way the contract is likely to shape, it will be difficult for Zaheer to accept the role of a consultant on a tour-to-tour basis,” a top BCCI official was quoted by TOI. “It will be an internal meeting and they said they will discuss the quantum of payment,” the source said.

“This was specifically the reason why the CAC wanted some time before announcing the coaches. They wanted to have everyone on board. But the COA got involved and rushed the announcement,” he said.

There are reports that the trust between Shastri and Arun is tipping the scales significantly in the latter getting the nod, “Is Zaheer willing to give 250 days a year to the team? He can come in and help Arun whenever required. Arun will be around with the team all the time and Shastri trusts his work,” a source close to development said.