Ravi Shastri pips Tom Moody, Mike Hesson; to remain India coach till 2021

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Mumbai, August 16: Ravi Shastri was on Friday (August 16) retained as the head coach of India cricket team. The Cricket Advisory Committee, comprising of Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shanta Rangaswamy, interviewed five candidates in Mumbai and zeroed in on Shastri, handing his third stint as India coach.

Shastri will remain India coach till 2021. "We had a marking system and all three of us were unanimous in our decision with mark that these were the results," Kapil Dev told media after the day-long interview to select the coach.

"Shastri's term will be till 2021. We didn't take any inputs from skipper Virat Kohli, if we did that then we would have to take the inputs from the entire Indian team," the former India captain announced.

Apart from Shatri, the CAC interviewed Mike Hesson, former New Zealand and Kings XI Punjab coach, Tom Moody, former Sri Lanka and Sunrisers Hyderabad coach, Lalchand Rajput, former India manager and Afghanistan coach, and Robin Singh, former India all-rounder and bowling coach, for the role.

Addressin a press meet, Kapil Dev said all the candidates gave fine presentations and the CAC members came out "more intelligent from the meeting room" but Shastri aggregated more points in the BCCI ranking system. Phil Simmons, the former West Indies, Ireland and Afghanistan coach, was in the list but he opted out of the interview citing personal reasons.

Though India skipper Virat Kohli supported Shastri being retaiend as the head coach, Kapil Dev made it clear that the CAC did not consult him during or before the coach selection process.