Former Indian opener WV Raman was appointed as Indian women’s team coach on Thursday despite dissension within the administrators over the selection process.
Raman is currently a batting consultant at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.
“The ad-hoc committee decided on the following three names in the order of preference – Gary Kirsten, WV Raman and Venkatesh Prasad,” The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said a statement.
BCCI further said that Indian men’s team 2011 World Cup-winning coach Gary Kirsten was the favourite for the position but due to a conflict of interest, Raman was preferred.
“However, Mr Kirsten was unable to take up this assignment due to his ongoing contract with an Indian Premier League franchise (Royal Challengers Bangalore), which would have entailed Conflict of Interest as per the BCCI constitution. In view of this, the BCCI appointed Mr Raman as the Head Coach of the Indian Women’s Cricket team,” BCCI clarified.
Announcement: @wvraman appointed Head Coach of Indian Women’s Cricket team
Details: https://t.co/ffajMENV48 pic.twitter.com/X4aUfQz2OA
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) December 20, 2018
The selection committee comprised India’s 1983 World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy.
WV Raman had played 27 One Day Internationals (ODIs) and 11 Test matches for Indian men’s cricket team. Raman is also one of the most qualified coaches in the country. The 53-year-old has coached big Ranji Trophy teams like Tamil Nadu and Bengal and Raman has also had a stint with the India U-19 team.