Virat Kohli has every right to have a say in coach selection, says Sourav Ganguly

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly on Wednesday said as leader the of the team Virat Kohli has got every right to voice his opinion in the coach selection process.

In his first media interaction after India’s World Cup semi-final 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 have a 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 which picked Shastri as the head coach in 2017. The other members were Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman.

This time the CAC comprising of 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 Dev-led committee had also picked the Indian women’s team 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.

‘Voting rights to former players’

Ganguly also added that the Cricket Association of Bengal has agreed to give voting rights to former international players in order to have fully Lodha Compliant constitution.

The CAB will wait till the Supreme Court hearing slated for August 8 before changing its constitution, it was decided at their special general meeting.

“We will give them voting rights if the Court does not change the verdict. After this, we will be fully Lodha compliant,” the former India captain told reporters after the SGM.

This was the only point that was left to be complied as per the constitution set by the Supreme Court as the process of filing the new electoral roll will then start.

The CAB currently has 121 members with voting rights and has more than 15 former International men’s and women’s cricketers.

“After the amendment, we will appoint an electoral officer. We will then proceed with AGM after August 8. As of now, we will wait for the Court’s order,” Ganguly added.

In a meeting earlier, the CAB were part of 16 state units, who had decided to “move on” and resolved to end the confrontation relating to adopting the new constitution set by the Lodha committee

Meanwhile, the CAB has decided to confer former India cricketer and current Bengal mentor Arul Lal with the Lifetime Achievement Award at their annual ceremony on August 3.

The 63-year-old, who played 16 Tests and 13 ODIs for India between 1982 and 1989, was also a prolific commentator and successfully battled jaw cancer a few years ago.