Sourav Ganguly backs Virat Kohli on coach selection, says captain has every right to voice his opinion

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Kolkata, July 31: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly on Wednesday (July 31) backed India captain Virat Kohli on the issue of coach selection and said as leader the of the team he has got every right to voice his opinion in the process.

In his first media interaction after India's World Cup semifinal exit, Kohli backed Ravi Shastri to continue as India head coach after his extended tenure ends with the tour of the West Indies beginning later this week.

"He is the captain. He has got every right to say," Ganguly said referring Kohli's comment at the pre-departure media interaction in Mumbai on Monday.

Ganguly was part of the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) which picked Shastri as the head coach in 2017. The other members were Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman.

This time the CAC comprising Kapil Dev, Anushuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy will pick the coach. The application deadline ended on Tuesday and incumbent Shastri gets an automatic entry in the selection process.

The Kapil-led committee had also picked the Indian women's coach, WV Raman, in December. Ganguly also spoke about the eight-month suspension handed to talented opener Prithvi Shaw for failing a dope test after the 19-year-old "inadvertently ingested a prohibited substance, which can be commonly found in cough syrups".

"A cough syrup can have different compositions. I don't know what exactly happened with Prithvi Shaw," he added.

Meanwhile, the hiring procedure for the new coach may get delayed as the newly formed Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) has not yet given the undertaking of conflict of interest, a top source within the Committee of Administrators has said.

(With inputs from PTI)