BCCI Cricket News


latest cricket

World T20, 2nd Semi-Final

India vs West Indies

at Mumbai, Mar 31, 2016
West Indies 196/3 beat India 192/2 by 7 wickets


BCCI Cricket News April - May 2007

Dav Whatmore denies reports that he had been offered a job to coach team India

Bangladesh's outgoing coach Dav Whatmore on Monday denied as 'mere speculation' reports he had been offered a job with India, saying nothing had been finalised yet.
Indian media had reported for the past week that Whatmore, 53, had been offered a one-year contract by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which could be extended by another two years.
"I am not India's coach, it is mere speculation," he told reporters a day after completing his four-year tenure with Bangladesh following the conclusion of the Indian tour. "I have had discussions with BCCI officials where I told them I was interested but that's all there is to it. I have not heard from them since."
A seven-man committee apppointed by the BCCI to pick a new coach will meet in Bangalore on June 4 to choose a successor to Australian Greg Chappell, who quit after India's first-round exit from the World Cup. Former captain-turned-commentator Ravi Shastri acted as interim coach for the Bangladesh tour, where India won both the one-day and Test series. Shastri declined to take up the assignment on a long-term basis, citing media commitments.
Whatmore, a Sri Lanka-born Australian, said he was "very interested" in coaching cricket-mad India, regarded as one of the most demanding jobs in the sport. "It will be a logical extension to bigger challenges," he said. "It will help to accumulate more knowledge of the game I love so much. "I was with Bangladesh for four years and they wanted me to continue. But a coach has a shelf life. One needs a different challenge after a few years. I need to move on."
Whatmore said coaching teams from the sub-continent was different from doing the job with England or Australia. "One has to understand the culture here is fundamentally different," he said. "The key is effective communication. You have to understand the subtle differences that exist here." "But what will never change is the fact that players make a coach. They go out there and bat, bowl and take catches. They go to the battlefield. The coach just has to make sure they get all the help."
Whatmore, who played seven Tests for Australia in 1979 as a top order batsman, is rated as one of the best cricket coaches ever since masterminding Sri Lanka's triumphant World Cup campaign in 1996.
He returned from the recent World Cup in the Caribbean with his reputation enhanced after Bangladesh qualified for the second round for the first time and secured wins over India and formidable South Africa. He also coached English county side Lancashire and had another stint with Sri Lanka, before taking up the challenge to transform Bangladesh cricket in 2003.
Under Whatmore, Bangladesh secured their lone Test win over Zimbabwe and won five one-dayers against established teams, including world champions Australia, South Africa, India (twice) and Sri Lanka. All four Asian Test teams are looking for a new coach.
While Chappell quit India after the World Cup, Pakistan's Bob Woolmer died during the tournament and Sri Lanka's Tom Moody opted to return home to coach Western Australia. India will have a new coach in place before the tours of Ireland and England commence in late-June.

Separate Indian teams to be picked for Irish series and England tour : BCCI

The Indian cricket team will depart for Ireland on June 20 to play a one-day series against South Africa.
However, with a tour of England to follow the Irish series, the BCCI has decided to send two separate teams for the forthcoming series.
The BCCI secretary Mr Niranjan Shah disclosed that two separate teams will be picked by the selectors for the series against South Africa at Belfast and then the subsequent tour of England in July-August where India will play a three-Test series and seven One-day internationals. The new coach will also be decided by June 10 as the seven-man committee chaired by BCCI president Mr Sharad Pawar will meet on June 4 to deliberate on the said issue. Indications are that Dav Whatmore may be roped in to coach India.

BCCI appoints panel for new coach

A seven-member committee headed by BCCI president Sharad Pawar was on Monday set up to choose India's new cricket coach amid reports that Australians Dav Whatmore and Tom Moody are the front runners for the job.
Besides Pawar, the "Special Committee" will consist of three former captains Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and S Venkataraghavan as well as N Srinivasan and MP Pandove, BCCI Treasurer and Joint Secretary respectively. Board secretary Niranjan Shah will be the committee's convenor. An official announcement from the BCCI said that Pawar had appointed the committee to advise the board in the selection of a cricket manager or coach for the team, which means that the successor to Greg Chappell, who resigned recently, could be given either designation. The committee is to meet at the earliest and convey its recommendations to the board, the statement said. Shastri, who has been appointed the cricket manager for next month's tour of Bangladesh, is said to have told the board that he would not be available for the coach's job after this assignment.
Whatmore, who is currently Bangladesh's coach, has publicly shown his interest in the job which Chappell described as the "toughest cricket assignment in the world". Moody, who has done an excellent job with the Sri Lankan team, is also said to be in the reckoning. The three former captains were also in the panel which had selected Chappell as the coach in May 2005. Moody, Mohinder Amarnath and Desmond Haynes were the other candidates who had appeared for the interview in New Delhi. Although no date has been fixed for the first meeting of the committee, a top source in the board indicated that a meeting could be convened in the first week of May.
The source declined to comment on the possible candidates for the job but gave enough indications that the team could have another foreign coach. "Shastri will not be available after the Bangladesh tour. We will shortlist a few names in the first meeting and then begin the process of selecting the new coach," the source said. Chappell quit the job in a blaze of controversy following the Indian team's World Cup debacle, prompting the board for a makeshift arrangement which saw Shastri taking over as cricket manager only for the Bangladesh tour. Apart from Shastri, the board also appointed former Test paceman Venkatesh Prasad as bowling coach and another former player Robin Singh as the fielding coach for the tour starting on May 7.
Responding to the board's diktat to pick a "young team" in the wake of the World Cup debacle, the national selectors dropped veterans Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly from the One day squad and dumped Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar from both the One day and Test teams. The Indians are scheduled to play three One dayers and two Test matches during the Bangladesh tour.

BCCI satisfied with Tendulkar, Yuvraj's explanation

BCCI Sunday said it was satisfied with the explanations of Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh to the show cause notices issued to them on their remarks on Greg Chappell and would consider the matter as closed.
"We have received the replies of Tendulkar and Yuvraj. We have gone through their letters and we are satisfied with the explanation. We will treat the matter as closed," BCCI Vice-President Rajiv Shukla said in New Delhi. Asked whether the two players had apologised, Shukla said that he would not divulge the contents of the letters.
The BCCI, in its Working Committee meeting on April 7, had decided to issue show cause notices to Tendulkar and his teammate Yuvraj for breaching the Board's Code of Conduct by making comments in the media on coach Chappell. The notices to both players with a seven-day deadline were sent on April nine. Tendulkar had criticised Chappell for questioning his attitude in an interview after India's return following their disastrous World Cup campaign while Yuvraj had backed Tendulkar's views, which had led to a furore.

Bangalore, Chennai to host Afro-Asia Cup

The second edition of the Afro-Asian Cup featuring three day-night one-day matches will be hosted by Bangalore and Chennai in June, Sharad Pawar, chairman of the Afro-Asian Cricket Co-operation, said Wednesday.
'It's the first major collaboration on any sporting level between the two continents and I'm sure, it will come to be seen as a truly significant event in the world of cricket,' said Pawar, who is also the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), at a press conference here. The $100,000 prize money event will kick-off with the first match at Bangalore June 6 and the remaining two matches will be played in Chennai June 9-10.
The winner will take away a cheque of $ 25,000 while the 'Player of the match' will earn $5,000 and 'player of the tournament' would get richer by $10,000. Each participating players will be paid a match fee of $5,000 each. Former Test opener Chetan Chauhan will be a part of the four-member selection panel to pick the Asian side that will also comprise players from Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Majid Khan (Pakistan), Lalith Kaluperama (Sri Lanka) and Asim Farooque (Bangladesh) are the other three selectors who will meet in Dhaka May 11 to choose the Asian team.
The African squad will feature players from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya. The inaugural edition, also involving three one-day internationals (ODIs), was held in Centurion and Durban in South Africa in 2005. Both the 2007 and 2008 Afro-Asia Cups are set in the ICC future tours programme and have been accorded official ODI status. Apart from the ODIs, Bangalore will host two Twenty20 matches June 5 among the men's and women's team from the two continents, said Syed Ashraful Haq, chief executive of the Asian Cricket Council. This would be the first time that India would be hosting any international Twenty20 tournament.

Former Indian captains recommendations to BCCI

Former India captains Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Chandu Borde, Srinivas Venkataraghavan, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri and Krishnamachari Srikanth made the following recommendations at the BCCI meeting.
  • Strengthen Domestic Cricket: Particularly the participation of international cricketers in major domestic tournaments. The international calender should be adjusted in such a way that at least 6 to 8 weeks in a year are available for domestic cricket. BCCI should try their level best to amend the Future Tours Programme in the general interest of Indian cricket.
  • Improve the quality of wickets: The BCCI must ensure that the domestic matches are played on sporting and lively wickets which are prepared under the supervision of members of pitch committee. The venues for important matches of the senior tournaments should be allotted by BCCI instead of the existing home and away rotation policy.
  • Ranji Trophy: The Elite group should be reduced to 10 teams from the existing 15 and the matches be played on round robin league basis so that it will improve the quality and competitiveness in domestic cricket.
  • Junior Cricket: The structure which is the best in the world and should be supported by providing good wickets and umpires.
  • India 'A' Tours: Should be undertaken on a regular basis to Australia/New Zealand/South Africa/West Indies. The tour may be organised ahead of the senior teams' tour to that country.
  • Pay Selectors: Selectors should be appointed on a full time basis on payment. Eligibility should be decided for appointment of both junior and senior selectors. Greater care should be taken in the appointment of selectors for the junior selection committee.
  • Form Pool of Players: Indian team must have a pool of at least 30 cricketers who should be rotated so that a cricketer does not play for more than 80 days of international cricket.
  • Star Zonal Academies: The National Cricket Academy must be supported by starting Zonal cricket academies, in each zone till all the state units set up their own indoor academies.
  • Put Cap on Players' Endorsements: The players must take permission of the Board before entering into an endorsement contract. A copy of the endorsement contract should be submitted to BCCI in order to ensure that there is no clause therein relating to performance based incentive. Limit the number of endorsement of a player. Not more than 2 to 3 players must endorse a product other than BCCI sponsor.
  • Form Cricket Committee: A committee may be constituted from among the captains to advise on cricketing matters and the committee should meet every quarter.

    Shastri, Venkatesh, Robin to coach Team India

    The former Indian cricket captain, Ravi Shastri, will be Team India's manager-cum-coach during its tour to Bangladesh as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) also decided to appoint separate bowling and fielding coaches for the team.
    The channel sources said that the job of coach has been delegated into three with former Indian medium pacer Venkatesh Prasad being appointed as teams bowling coach and former Indian all-rounder Robin Singh will be the fielding coach of the team for the upcoming tour to Bangladesh. Shastri had said on Friday that he would have to look into his contractual commitments before saying yes to the BCCI's proposal.
    The Indian Board has also removed the grading system in the team and now players will get performance based incentives. Taking a tough stand in the wake of India's World Cup debacle, the Cricket Board today scrapped the players' contract system and reverted to payment of match fees, including bonus for every series win. It dcided to cut down the players' one-day fees from Rs 1.6 lakh to Rs 1 lakh each and give bonus of Rs 3 lakh each for winning a series, BCCI sources said.
    The BCCI Working Committee, which met at the Wankhede Stadium here, said players' endorsements contracts would be restricted to three per cricketer at a time. The Board decided to abolish the zonal selection system within a year. A proposal in this regard would be made in the next Working Committee meeting, which would be ratified by the annual general meeting of the Board. It is known that India are due to play a minimum of 15 Tests and at least 40 one-dayers over the next 12 months starting with a tour of Bangladesh in May.

    Dravid retained as captain for Bangladesh tour

    Rahul Dravid has been retained as India captain for the team's next three tours, the country's cricket board said on Saturday.
    Dravid, whose leadership was under fire following India's first-round exit in the World Cup, will be skipper for next month's tour of Bangladesh as well as the trips to Ireland and England later in the year. "The working committee has directed the selection committee to send a young team to Bangladesh under an experienced captain," board treasurer N. Srinivasan told journalists. "The selection committee after discussions has appointed Rahul Dravid as captain," he added.

    Zee launches ambitious $232mn Indian Cricket League

    In a move effectively challenging the Indian cricket board's national tournaments, Zee Group Tuesday announced the launch of an ambitious Indian Cricket League (ICL) with a corpus fund of Rs 1 billion ($232.26 million) and a promise to field many international players.

  • Harbhajan Singh Memorabilia

    Singh's Magnificent Hat Trick

    On the 1st Day of the 2nd Test, India versus Australia, in March 2001, at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, Harbhajan Singh achieved what no other Indian cricketer had ever done - he snared a magnificent Hat Trick.
    Limited Edition Magnificent photographic collage of the three dismissals with the hat trick at Calcutta capturing photograph in each piece being personally signed by Harbhajan Singh. Each piece .encased in a timber frame with Perspex glazing and is supported by A-Tag microchip authentication technology, and comes complete with a Certificate of Authenticity.
    Buy now / Read more / Other cricket memorabilia


    BCCI Officials

    Official site: bcci.tv

    Senior Office Bearers (2011-12)

    N. Srinivasan President
    Arun Jaitley Vice President - North
    N Shivlal Yadav Vice President - South
    Chitrak Mitra Vice President - East
    Niranjan Shah Vice President - West
    Sudhir Dabir Vice President - Central
    Sanjay Jagdale Hon. Secretary
    Anurag Thakur Hon. Joint Secretary
    Ajay Shirke Hon. Treasurer

    Board Affiliation

    Formation date: 1928
    Affiliation: International Cricket Council ICC
    Affiliation: date 21 November 1927
    Regional affiliation: Asian Cricket Council ACC
    Affiliation date: 1995
    Location: Mumbai
    Coach: Duncan Fletcher

    Editor: Nishanth Gopinathan.