Ravi Shastri Appointed Interim Coach of Team India

File photo of Ravi Shastri with MS Dhoni.

© AFP

New Delhi: Former India cricketer Ravi Shastri was named as the interim national coach for the upcoming tour to Bangladesh, on Tuesday. This will be his second stint as Team India boss in Bangladesh after he toured with the side in 2007 following Greg Chappell’s resignation as coach.

The veteran cricketer had previously served as Team Director since August of last year and till the end of the World Cup 2015 when his contract expired. (Also read: Sachin, Sourav and VVS agree to be part of BCCI’s advisory committee)

There was a big question mark regarding the successor of Duncan Fletcher whose tenure also came to an end with the World Cup. The mystery has at least partially been resolved with Shastri being named as the coach although it was previously learnt that he was looking for a longer contract. His experience of having played cricket as well as having worked closely with the current crop of players is now expected to further bolster the side.

In the other support staff appointments, Sanjay Bangar and Bharat Arun will continue to serve as the batting and bowling coaches respectively. R Sridhar was also retained as the fielding coach while Biswaroop Dey was named the team’s administrative manager.

The Indian cricket team will arrive in Kolkata on June 5 and thereafter depart for Bangladesh for the three ODIs and a solitary Test.