Team India’s new coach Ravi Shastri has finally got his way as former fast bowler Bharat Arun was confirmed as the team’s new bowling coach, the Board of Control for Cricket in India confirmed on Tuesday.
Arun has been handed a full-time role as bowling coach. The 54-year-old has previously worked with the Indian team during Shastri’s tenure as team director.
The BCCI also announced that Sanjay Bangar and R Sridhar will remain in the support staff as the assistant coach and the fielding coach respectively. All three were given contracts until the 2019 World Cup.
A BCCI committee comprising acting president CK Khanna, acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary and Committee of Administrators member Diana Edulji met at the board headquarters in Mumbai to confirm the appointments, reported the Times of India. The committee met with CoA Chairman Vinod Rai, who gave a go-ahead to the appointments.
However, there was no clarity given on the roles of Zaheer Khan and Rahul Dravid, who were earlier appointed bowling consultant and overseas batting consultant respectively. While it was clarified that Zaheer would be available for 150 days in a year, his role given that the team now has a full-time bowling coach, is yet unclear. The same goes with Dravid, as it wasn’t specified whether Bangar would travel with the team overseas.
“I was very clear in my mind what my core team would be and you have just heard that,” Shastri was quoted as saying after Tuesday’s announcement. When asked about Zaheer and Dravid’s roles, he said, “All depends on their availability, it depends on individuals, the number of days they want to give, but their inputs will be invaluable and they are most welcome.”