THE all-powerful working committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday (September 26) retained former India all-rounder Ravi Shastri as the Director of the Indian cricket team till the ICC World Cup next year while deciding to hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Chennai on November 20.
The working committee also decided to continue with the services of coach Duncan Fletcher till the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in February-March next year. The Indian support staff trio of Sanjay Bangar, Bharath Arun and R Sridhar were also rewarded with contracts till the end of the World Cup.
The AGM has been deferred to pave the way for president-in-exile N Srinivasan's return at the helm as the majority of BCCI members feel that he will get clean chit from the Supreme Court-appointed Justice (Retd) Mukul Mudgal committee. Srinivasan attended the meeting as the President of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association.
In fact his influence could be gauged from the fact that the house felicitated Srinivasan for being appointed as the first-ever chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in July.
According to top BCCI sources, only objection was raised by the representative of the Vidarbha Cricket Association, who wanted to know about the reason for delaying the AGM but his concern did not bother the majority of the members.
The major decision taken was appointing Shastri on a full-time basis till the end of the World Cup in Australia, next year.
The working committee members unanimously thanked Shastri for accepting the job of Team Director for the limited overs series during the tour of England and the former India all-rounder has now accepted the offer to remain in-charge till the World Cup.
Shastri will be with the team during the home series against West Indies, followed by the Test series against Australia and the triangular series following that leading upto the World Cup starting February 14.
