August 02, 2007	Thursday	Rajab 17, 1428

NEW DELHI, Aug 1: The Indian cricket board has announced that a decision on the appointment of India’s next coach will be taken on Aug 10 in New Delhi. “The BCCI office bearers will meet and the modalities regarding the process for selecting the new coach will be worked out,” Secretary BCCI Niranjan Shah told The Hindu.

“Right now we have Venkatesh Prasad and Robin Singh as the bowling and fielding coaches and they are doing a good job.”

Shah, who didn’t rule out the possibility of an advertisement being placed for the post, said a panel comprising former India captains Sunil Gavaskar, S Venkatraghavan and Ravi Shastri, and a select BCCI committee headed by Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, would screen the candidates.

“We are in no great hurry and will look for the best possible candidate,” Shah stated. “I am not in favour of advertising for the post but we will reach a consensus in which the views of the other office-bearers will also count.”

India have been without a coach since Greg Chappell’s resignation after the World Cup, with various positions being filled temporarily. Shastri took over as the cricket manager for the Bangladesh tour while Prasad and Singh were appointed as specialist coaches.

Graham Ford, the former South African coach who is currently the director of cricket at Kent, rejected the BCCI offer to coach the national side.

—Agencies