If CAC is Guilty of Conflict Of Interest, Ravi Shastri May Have To Be Reappointed As India Coach: Reports

If the CAC is found guilty of Conflict of Interest claims, it could result in Shastri contesting for the post all over again.

India head coach Ravi Shastri may have to be reappointed if the Kapil Dev-Led Cricket Advisory Committee is found guilty of Conflict of Interest by BCCI Ethics Officer DK Jain. Jain, on Saturday, sent a notice to the CAC, comprising Kapil, Shantha Rangaswamy and Anshuman Gaekwad regarding their involvement in activities other than CAC role and has given them time till October 10 to respond.

Besides serving his role in the CAC, Kapil is conflicted for being a commentator, owner of a floodlight company and being a member of Indian Cricketers Association. Rangaswamy, a former captain of India women’s team, has been accused of being involved with the Indian Cricketers’ Association (ICA), whereas former India coach Gaekwad finds himself in trouble for owning an academy and serving as a member of the BCCI Affiliation Committee.

However, the bigger story is that if the CAC is indeed found guilty of the above conflicts, it could might as well result in Shastri contesting for the post all over again since Kapil, Rangaswamy and Gaekwad were the ones responsible for the former India allrounder’s extension as coach till the 2021 World T20 in India.

“The appointment of Shastri as the head coach will obviously have to be done once again if the committee members who appointed him are found to have conflict of interest,” a BCCI functionary told IANS. “A new committee will then have to be formed and the whole process has to be re-opened and re-done keeping the newly registered BCCI constitution in mind as the constitution now clearly says that only a CAC can appoint the head coach of the Indian team.”

Since the trio was also responsible for the selection of India women’s coach, the same implication will hold true for WV Raman. In November last year, Raman, 53, replaced Romesh Powar as the man in charge but his position could also be under threat if the conflicts are indeed true.

“One needs to see what Jain’s verdict is in the Raman matter because in that case also, the same trio as ad-hoc CAC had appointed him as coach even as the two-member CoA was divided,” the functionary added. “Back then, it was a 1:1 verdict with Vinod Rai agreeing to the trio appointing the coach and Diana Edulji making it clear that there was no place for an ad-hoc CAC in the BCCI constitution that was reworked as per the proposals of the Lodha Panel.”