The Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) led by Kapil Dev today announced that Ravi Shastri would continue as the Indian men’s cricket head coach. The CAC panel comprising of Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy made the announcement at a press conference in Mumbai on Friday evening.
Ravi Shastri's previous tenure ended after the 2019 ICC World Cup 2019 but he was given an extension to cover the ongoing tour of the West Indies while the CAC decided on the next coach.
Apart from Shastri, Mike Hesson, Robin Singh, Tom Moody, Lalchand Rajput and Phil Simmons had applied for the post, with Simmons pulling out earlier on Friday.
"Number three was Tom Moody, number two was Mike Hesson. Number one is Ravi Shastri as all of you were expecting… (But) It was a very close race," said Kapil Dev at the press conference.
It was widely expected that Shastri would retain the post especially after skipper Virat Kohli had said before leaving for the West Indies tour that he was in favour of Shastri continuing as the head coach despite the criticism he faced following the semi-final ouster from the World Cup.
Shastri has been re-appointed for a two-year period, ending with the 2021 T20 World Cup in India.
