Sports

Shastri Insists On Bringing In Bharath Arun As Bowling Assistant For Team

Shastri Insists On Bringing In Bharath Arun As Bowling Assistant For Team

Newly appointed head coach of the Indian cricket team Ravi Shastri has made it clear to the Cricket Advisory Committee that he wants former bowling coach Bharath Arun back into the mix even though the CAC has appointed former Indian pace bowler Zaheer Khan as the bowling coach. Shastri, a former Indian all-rounder who was manager of the the team for some time, has stated that he wants his own staff working with the team. The talk is that Zaheer may not be available for all the 250 days that a bowling coach is required to put in and may be around for only a 100 days. Plus, Zaheer’s salary package has not been agreed upon yet. While Shastri has expressed no objection to the services of former Indian stars like Zaheer and Rahul Dravid (batting coach overseas), Shastri apparently wants a full time bowling assistant who can be with the team full time, and Bharath is someone whom he can trust. “Shastri has made it clear that Zaheer can spearhead the unit, but he needs someone like Arun to be around the team and see that what Zaheer suggests is implemented. Shastri is set to meet the Committee of Administrators on Monday and he will put forward his request,” an official was quoted as saying.

Arun was John Dawes replacement in 2014 and functioned till 2016 when Shastri was passed up for the head coach’s job and the post went to Anil Kumble. Shastri’s association with Arun goes a long way back to their U-19 cricket days in the 1980s. It was Shastri who brought Arun in the first time round too when he gave then-BCCI president the go-ahead to appoint him the bowling coach for the senior team. He was a bowling consultant at the time for the National Cricket Academy(NCA).

About the author

Aiman

Keenly interested in sports of all sorts, I am a physicist by training and curious about everything.