MUMBAI: The BCCI has appointed WV Raman as head coach, Team India (senior women), the Indian cricket board announced Thursday.
The announcement was immediately followed up by the disgruntled half of the now thoroughly discredited Committee of Administrators – Diana Edulji – lashing out at CoA chairman Vinod Rai, accusing him of acting unconstitutionally.
Raman’s selection was based on recommendations of the ad-hoc committee comprising India’s first World Cup-winning skipper Kapil Dev, former India opener Anshuman Gaekwad and former India women’s team member Shantha Rangaswamy. Appointed unilaterally by Rai, it needs noting.
Raman will take over the role from Ramesh Powar, who served on an interim basis – a relatively successful phase which ended with a semi-final loss against England in the recently-concluded World T20, followed by a to and fro of allegations with veteran Mithali Raj and despite the support of team captain Harmanpreet Kaur and vice-captain Smriti Mandhana.
The ad-hoc committee conducted interviews of the three shortlisted candidates at the BCCI HQ here on Thursday. No suprises for guessing that Powar was not on the committee’s shortlist.
The BCCI stated: “The ad-hoc committee decided on the following three names in the order of preference:
1) Gary Kirsten
2) WV Raman
3) Venkatesh Prasad
“However, Kirsten was unable to take up this assignment due to his ongoing contract with an Indian Premier League franchise, which would have entailed Conflict of Interest as per the BCCI constitution.
“In view of this, the BCCI appointed Raman as the head coach.”
