WV Raman should go for NZ tour as interim coach: Edulji to Rai

The Supreme Court appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) member Diana Edulji has said, apparently targeting its Chairman Vinod Rai, that it is prudent to let BCCI-appointed senior women team head coach WV Raman go for New Zealand tour as the interim coach on his old contract which is valid till June 2019.

Edulji, a decorated former Indian cricket captain, in her letter addressed to Rai on Thursday added: "Let Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) do a fresh process to select a coach. There should be no new contract and if the CEO, CFO and GM Cricket Operations in charge of women's cricket do issue a new contract then they will have to be liable for financial damages to the BCCI."

 

"Taking unilateral decisions are more detrimental to the image of BCCI and also to the appointment of COA who was appointed to ensure the implementation of the reforms," she added.

An email chain between Edulji, Rai, BCCI officials Saba Karim, Rahul Johri, Amitabh Choudhary, Anirudh Chaudhary, CK Khanna, Gopal Subramanium, and Santosh Rangnekar over the issue of ad hoc committee for the selection of a coach for the women's team, reflects a conflict between her and the COA chairman.

Referring to the process by which Ravi Shastri had been appointed as the current men's team head coach, Edulji said: "The CEO (Johri) and yourself (Rai) in the past had changed/extended timelines for an individual who eventually became the Head Coach of men's team, then how is it that you have suddenly found it difficult to give time to CAC. or extend the contract of the coach Ramesh Powar. Please recall the time when the men's team went without a coach to West Indies and late Doc [MV] Sridhar was asked to be with the team, as timelines were extended and CAC was allowed to complete its process of selecting a Coach."

Former Indian cricketer WV Raman was chosen by the BCCI-appointed ad-hoc committee as the head of women cricket team on December 20. After a series of interviews conducted by a three-member panellist including legendary cricketers Kapil Dev, Shantha Rangaswamy and Anshuman Gaekwad, the ad-hoc committee zeroed on Raman.