Indian Women’s Head Coach To Be Picked On June 30, Agarkar Frontrunner For Chief Selector’s Post

The shortlist for the Indian women’s team’s head coach job includes Amol Muzumdar and Tushar Arothe, who are among those to be interviewed on June 30.

While Arothe has coached the Indian team in the past, Muzumdar, who is also in talks to become Baroda coach, has had stints with IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals and the South African national team. It has also been learned that Englishman and ex-Durham head coach, Jon Lewis has also applied for the job.

The Cricket Advisory Committee comprising Ashok Malhotra, Jatin Paranjpe, and Sulakshana Naik will conduct the interviews in Mumbai. “The interviews will be conducted on Friday,” a BCCI official told PTI.

The Harmanpreet Kaur-led India, guilty of throwing away knock-out games from winning positions in multi-team events over the past five years, has been without a head coach since Ramesh Powar was sacked in December.

Batting coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar was in charge of the team in the T20 World Cup in South Africa earlier this year. India has a tour of Bangladesh scheduled for next month and the announcement on the head coach’s front will be made before that. “I don’t think bringing back Tushar will be a good choice. The team needs someone with fresh ideas. Someone like Amol is the right person to take the team forward.

“The management needs to build a big pool of players before the T20 World Cup next year which will also be held in Bangladesh,” said a former India player. Ajit Agarkar frontrunner for chief selector’s post, After picking the head coach for the women’s team on Friday, the CAC is likely to appoint the chief selector for the Indian men’s team — a post that has been vacant since Chetan Sharma’s unceremonious exit in February.

The last date of application is June 30 and the interviews are likely to be held on July 1. “The CAC has the mandate to pick a selector who can stand up to the high-profile team management in case there are differences,” added the BCCI official.

Agarkar was linked to the chief selector’s post in the past as well, but this time, he is likely to get the high-pressure job. If Agarkar is appointed, there will be two selectors from the West Zone with Salil Ankola being the other. The 45-year-old played 26 Tests, 191 ODIs, and 4 T20s for India. He was a part of the Delhi Capitals’ support staff in the recently held IPL.

Source PTI