CHENNAI: Trust Virender Sehwag to come up with something extraordinary. Ravi Shastri was appointed head coach about two months back and the Indian team is settling down under him. On Saturday, Sehwag dropped a bomb by saying that he didn’t get the job because he was in no position to influence the members of the committee that selected the coach.
“Dekhiye main coach isliye nahi ban paaya kyonki jo bhi coach chun rahe the unse mera koi setting nahin tha (look, I couldn’t become the coach because I was in no position to influence the decision-makers),” the former opener told a Hindi news channel in a chat show.
It can be remembered that a special committee comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman picked the coach. Sehwag saying that he lost out because he didn’t have ‘setting’ (colloquial for knowing someone well) amounts to a serious charge. The BCCI isn’t in good shape at the moment. Under normal circumstances, this could have led to a debate.
Sehwag, who had no experience of coaching any team other than mentoring Kings XI Punjab for one season in the IPL, added that he applied for the job only after being coaxed by BCCI officials. “I never thought of coaching the Indian team. I was given an offer to coach the team. The BCCI (acting) secretary Amitabh Choudhary and GM (game development) MV Sridhar came to me and requested me to think about the offer. I took my time and then applied for the position,” Sehwag revealed.
He added that had he known Shastri was applying for the job, he would not have done so. “When I was in England during Champions Trophy, I asked Ravi Shastri why he hasn’t applied for the post. Shastri told me that he will not repeat the mistake which he had made once. If Ravi had applied earlier, I don’t think there would have been any chance of me applying for the post.” Known for his no holds barred comments, Sehwag might have stirred a hornet’s nest here.
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