The Committee of Administrators (COA) has asked the BCCI to declare a coach of the Indian men's cricket team by today.
Yesterday, the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) decided to put the appointment on hold while sending a pointed message to skipper Virat Kohli to understand "how coaches operate".
According to a report by the Indian Express, the Supreme Court appointed COA has now directed the BCCI to not delay the selection any further.
Speaking on behalf of the three-member CAC, former captain Sourav Ganguly had made it clear that the panel was not in a hurry to select a coach for the Indian cricket team and wished to speak with captain Kohli.
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"Virat will need to understand how coaches operate. At the same time, you have to give credit to Virat that he has stayed out of the coach selection process. We will have a detailed chat with him once he is back from the West Indies," Ganguly, flanked by committee member VVS Laxman and joint secretary Amitabh Choudhary, told media persons.
The COA has however, reportedly asked the BCCI just to make Kohli aware of the presentations given by the aspirants and then name the coach promptly.
Five candidates --- namely Ravi Shastri, Virender Sehwag, Tom Moody, Richard Pybus and Lalchand Rajput were interviewed with Sehwag being the only one physically present at the BCCI Headquarters.
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Ganguly and Laxman were joined by Sachin Tendulkar via Skype and the former skipper said that the process is complete.
Ganguly informed that West Indian Phil Simmons did not make himself available for the interview.
However, the decision to withhold the appointment is a clear indication that Ravi Shastri is no longer a runaway favourite for the top job as has been the popular perception.
Sehwag's interview went on for two hours.
"You will get to know soon," Sehwag told reporters while leaving Cricket Centre.
"We will hold on to the announcements as we need a few more days. We feel there is no hurry, the Sri Lanka tour is coming in a few days' time," Ganguly said.
Ganguly made it clear that they are looking at the bigger picture for the next two years and will take a decision in the best interest of Indian cricket.
"We want to make sure we take the best possible decision for Indian cricket. The coach, captain and players are the ones who will take Indian cricket forward. The CAC goes out of the picture once the coach is selected."
Reiterating the policy of the BCCI, Ganguly stated that the appointment will be made keeping in mind the 2019 World Cup.
"Once we make this announcement, it has to be till the World Cup (2019)," said Ganguly.
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"The CAC after due consideration thought that they could postpone the announcement of the name just to make sure that the other stakeholders understand that a coach has certain...Every individual has a certain style and every professional can have a certain style.
"So the other stakeholders are made to understand that the style is typical of a person and therefore we should become accommodative of that. So it was only with this intent that the three greats decided to announce it later," said the secretary.
(With inputs from PTI)
