BCCI stumped: 'Tendulkar', 'Modi', 'Amit Shah' among applicants for Team India coach
However, all these aspirants are fake even as BCCI received over 3000 applications for the top coaching assignment in the cricketing world
As the deadline set by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for submission of applications for Team India’s head coach came to an end on Tuesday (May 27), the BCCI was faced with a mountainous challenge: to sort suitable candidates from among 3000 plus applicants. And, curiously, among the applicants the BCCI found to their amusement were none other than personalities like Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, according to a report in The Indian Express.
However, all these applicants were found to be fake sent to the board via fake mail IDs, leaving the BCCI management wonder if there are genuine contenders to take up the top coaching job.
But this is not the first time the BCCI has received such a huge pile of applications.
With Rahul Dravid’s tenure as Team India’s head coach coming to an end with ICC’s Men’s T20 World Cup to be jointly hosted by the US and the West Indies in June, the BCCI had on May 13 thrown open the coveted position in the cricketing world and decided to conduct the exercise using Google Forms. Responses have been pouring in ever since the BCCI advertised the vacancy.
Not a new phenomenon
“Last year too, the BCCI received such a response where imposters applied, and the story is similar this time. The reason the BCCI had to invite applications on Google forms is it's easy to scrutinise the names of applicants in one sheet,” The Indian Express quoted a BCCI official as saying.
When Ravi Shastri’s tenure as head coach came to an end in 2021, the BCCI had received more than 5000 applications, mostly via fake mail IDs, after the board went for a headhunt for his successor.
But those were different times as it was well known that Shastri wouldn’t wear the mantle again and Virat Kohli had a successful run as a T20I captain. Then, Dravid was sure of donning the mantle of Team India’s head coach as he had steered India A and Under-19 to many a success.
BCCI in a quandary
However, the BCCI is in a bind this time around. According to media reports, Gautam Gambhir may be a contender after steering the Kolkata Knight Riders to their third IPL title win after a drought of 10 years. But the BCCI is still undecided over his candidature. VVS Laxman, on the other hand, is not interested to take up the job owing to his NCA commitments, while New Zealander Stephen Fleming has chickened out.
The BCCI has rubbished the claims by Australian Justin Langer and Ricky Ponting that the board had approached them, thus throwing them out of reckoning.
The next head coach will take up the assignment in July with Team India’s tour of Sri Lanka.