Champions Trophy 2017 - England beats Bangla ~ race for Coach of India

Historian Ramachandra Guha has resigned from the Committee of Administrators, which was appointed by the Supreme Court of India to oversee the working of the BCCI and the implementation of the Lodha Committee recommendations.  It is reported that  Guha tendered his resignation in the Supreme Court in Delhi on Thursday. With the court in summer recess, however, a vacation bench of judges deferred accepting the decision to July 14, when the court will resume the hearing.

At Kennington oval today, in ODI 3875, the 1^st match of the Champions Trophy 2017, England won the toss, put Bangla into bat – and conceded 305 taking only 6 wickets. But the chase was smooth  as Hales 95, Joe Root 133*  and Eoin Morgan 75* saw them through comfortably. 

Tamim Iqbal's 128 set up an engrossing contest as he with Mushfiqur Rahim, added 166 for the third wicket, having already helped them to a solid start in the first 20 overs. But once the pair were removed, the last five overs wasn't quite the deluge of runs as it was being set up for.

The England’s chase was methodical with runs flowing freely and Bangladesh struggling to get wickets after the early fall of Jason Roy.   4^th ball of over 36 - Mashrafe Mortaza to Morgan, 1 run, chipped down the ground, Tamim sprinted in from long-on, dived and claimed that he got the ball ! – good effort and naturally there was reference to Third Umpire.  Tamim was shaking his disapproving such gesture, probably he wanted the Umpire to give out directly.  Umpire S Ravi, referred gesticulating softly ‘not-out’.  TV replays clearly showed that ball had bumped before lodging into the hands.   Tamim was unhappy and went on protesting with the Umpire. 

When technology was relied upon, the Umpire had just done his duty of referral – what did he have to contest the TV decision ~ or was it such poor understanding of the laws and technology ?

Back home,  Cricinfo reports that swashbuckler - Virender Sehwag,  has applied for the job of India coach, which will become vacant after Anil Kumble's contract expires at the end of the ongoing Champions Trophy. Kumble is an automatic entry in the application process, but his chances of another term appear slim after the India captain Virat Kohli expressed reservations about his coaching methods to the BCCI.

The other applicants are former Australia allrounder Tom Moody, former Pakistan coach Richard Pybus, former India medium pacer Dodda Ganesh, and former India A coach Lalchand Rajput, according to a PTI report. The next India coach will be chosen by Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman, who comprise the BCCI's Cricket Advisory Committee.

Sehwag, who had a 14-year international career, has no formal coaching experience apart from his team management roles with the Kings XI Punjab franchise in the 2015 and 2016 seasons of the IPL. In contrast, Moody has coached Sri Lanka, Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, and has had team management roles with English county Worcestershire and Melbourne Renegades in the BBL. Pybus has coached Pakistan twice, while Rajput is the present coach of Afghanistan. Ganesh has coached Goa for four years and is at present a selector for Karnataka in Indian domestic cricket.

Interesting !

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

1^st June 2017.