Final decision on Dav after consulting Sunny: Shah

B D Narayankar

bapun@sakalherald.com

PUNE: Final decision on Dav Whatmore’s fate to don the mantle of India’s coach would be taken only after consulting Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shashtri and S Venkatraghavan in the meeting of BCCI committee set up to find the new coach, said BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah.

Confirming reports, he told Maharashtra Herald over phone on Thursday that the BCCI would be meeting Dav on May 19 in Chittagong to strike a deal for coaching India. “When somebody of his stature wants to meet us, how can we deny his request,” he said.

He, however, denied reports of a six-member BCCI team visiting Chittagong to hold talks with Dav. “Sharad Pawar and me alone will be attending the meeting,” Shah said scotching rumours that Pawar would announce Dav’s appointment soon after the meeting. “The Australian’s fate will be decided only after a meeting of the BCCI committee formed to find the new coach, in which inputs from Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and S Venkataraghavan will be considered,” he added.

Asked whether there was any truth in Dav’s claim that the some BCCI officials had offered him the prestigious assignment, Shah replied in the negative, but admitted that some other BCCI officials might have spoken to the outgoing Bangladesh coach.

Whatmore's last assignment is the two-match test series against India starting on Friday. The second five-day Test will start from May 25 in Dhaka.

The Australian, who has an enviable record as coach, will be giving up his current job as Bangladesh coach after this series with India and has already turned down the offer to coach Pakistan. What's more, the bigwigs of BCCI are learnt to be keen on Whatmore.

New coach soon: Shah

B D Narayankar

bapun@sakalherald.com

PUNE: To put an end to speculations, BCCI will convene a meeting of its committee for recommending Team India's new coach soon after the Bangladesh tour. This was revealed to Maharashtra Herald by BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah over phone on Saturday.

He said he would speak to BCCI supremo Sharad Pawar today evening and try to fix up a date for the seven-member committee meeting comprising of Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and Srinivas Venkataraghvan. ''We have to wait for the new coach until June,'' he said.

Asked whether there was any truth in the reports of Dav Whatmore being considered for Team India's coach, he said as far as BCCI was concerned none of its members have contacted Whatmore nor he had tried to contact us. ''However, we have kept our options open for a foreign coach,'' he said.

Asked about Gavaskar's stand against the appointment of a foreign coach, Shah said: ‘’I do not want react to it. Anyway BCCI will have its say.''

He also rubbished reports about Shastri being directed to ‘observe’ Whatmore during India’s Bangladesh Tour.

Is Gilly's innings legal?

B D Narayankar

bapun@sakalherald.com

Pune: The swashbuckling World Cup final knock by dashing Aussie left-hander Adam Gilchrist had left the Sri Lankan Lions gasping for breath after he etched the now famous 149 runs of just 103 balls that took not only the game away from them, but also the coveated Cup.

That was simply an unbelievable effort from someone who had been doing it for many years for the Aussies quite regularly. For Gilchrist, the 2007 World Cup in the initial stages was not a good memory to cherish. He was struggling with his form and failed to score runs against top teams.

But, how could he achieve to get back into his rythm in the finals? This question would not have evoked interest if Gilchrist would not have revealed about sqeezing a squash ball in his left, bottom hand-glove to help him with his grip to middle the ball to perfection. He hit six sixes and 13 boundaries in his extraordinary innings.

One should give credit to this Aussie for his fantastic performance for it is too difficult to control shots with an alien object sqeezed into the glove. But let us not also forget whether such a foreign stuff is allowed inside the batsmen's gloves? If it is not, as the laws suggest, then Gilchrist's innings and Aussies' World Cup triumph was illegal.

A very famous international umpire, who is associated with Anil Kumble's one of the historic exploits, told Maharashtra Herald from abroad that a batsman cannot carry an object —in this case, a squash ball — not connected with cricket to help him on the field.

Even if Gilchrist wanted to use it he should have sought prior permission of the umpires and the fielding side captain -- in this case Mahela Jayawardene, he said, further elaborating: ''Sub-section 6 of Law 3 deals with the conduct of the game, implements and equipment. It reads as: No player uses equipment other than that permitted.

The list of permitted external items for a batsman are a helmet, pads, hand gloves and, if visible, fore-arm guards. Spectacles and jewellery are classified under clothing items. ''Gilchrist’s squash ball was, therefore, neither a piece of protective equipment, nor a clothing item, and was most certainly not visible to either side or the umpires. And nowhere in cricket’s 42 laws is there a mention of a squash ball as a permitted item,'' Karnataka umpire M K Suresh said.

However, another noted international umpire Shavir Tarapore disagreed saying that he would not mind Gilchrist using a sqash ball in his glove. ''If rules are to be adhered to, then even wicketkeepers' inner gloves are not permitted to be used by batsmen. But many top batsmen use them,'' he said.

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