October 10, 2007	Wednesday	Ramazan 27, 1428

MUMBAI, Oct 9: Former Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore has accepted an offer to become director of operations at India’s national cricket academy (NCA).

“He’s going to be head of operations for three years,” former India captain and NCA chairman Ravi Shastri said on Tuesday.

Australian Whatmore, 53, had earlier been seen as a successor to Greg Chappell, who quit as coach of the Indian team after the first-round exit at the one-day World Cup in the Caribbean in March.

However, Whatmore was surprisingly left off the short-list for the post when South African Graham Ford turned the job down in June.

India have been without a coach since March and the board has advertised the post.

Whatmore guided Sri Lanka to the World Cup in 1996 and helped unfancied Bangladesh reach the World Cup second round for the first time this year after a shock win over India. He is expected to start work at the academy by the end of the month. –Reuters