Ravi Shastri Likely to Become Next India Coach, to get Rs 7 cr a year

Team India director Ravi Shastri is likely to replace Duncan Fletcher as head coach and reports said he could be paid Rs 7 crore-a-year.

Team director Ravi Shastri will be the new India coach, BCCI sources have told HT. The Rs 7 crore-a-year-deal that will make the former skipper the highest paid cricket coach in the world is likely to be announced at the end of the Bangladesh tour.

The former all-rounder, who takes over from Zimbabwean Duncan Fletcher, will be the first Indian to hold the job after 2000 when John Wright of New Zealand ushered in the era of foreign coaches.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India, said sources, stopped looking for a new coach after Test captain Virat Kohli told them he wanted Shastri in the dressing room.

There have been indications in recent days from Shastri as well and BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur that the 53-year-old could continue with the national team beyond the Bangladesh tour, for which he was retained as the director.

Shastri, who had a Rs 4-crore a year contract with the BCCI as a TV commentator, will be the first cricket coach to be paid more than a $1 million (about rs 6.4 crore). He drew about Rs 6 crore annually as team director until the World Cup.

Fletcher, who joined Team India in 2011, was paid Rs 4.2 crore a year. His stint that ended with the World Cup in March was uninspiring. On his watch, India were whitewashed on tours of England and Australia. The performance was particularly bad in Test matches played abroad.


SOURCE: HT