Shastri's contract ends, India seek coach again

BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur has said that Ravi Shastri's contract as India's team director has ended, but can be renewed if the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), comprising Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly, deem fit. Shastri, whose contract expired after India's exit from the World T20, can only be reinstated as full-time coach as Thakur has stated there will be no position of team director.

The CAC, which was formed in June 2015 for all major cricket-related decisions, has been tasked with picking a coach and the committee is likely to meet after the World T20.

"Ravi Shastri's contract has ended. We are looking at a full-time coach and the decision will be taken by the Cricket Advisory Committee. There won't be a Team Director and a full-time coach. It will be only one post and even Ravi's contract can come up for renewal," Thakur told PTI. "It will be the post of a full-time coach. CAC has been asked to shortlist the names of the possible candidates for the post. The meeting of the CAC is expected to happen post April 3. It can happen before the start of the IPL also. We will have to decide on the date."

Under Shastri, who had taken over as director in 2014, India made it to successive semi-finals of global events - the 2015 World Cup and the 2016 World T20, and also climbed to No. 1 on the Test rankings for a period of eight weeks until Australia took over in February 2016. In this period, India also won their first limited-overs bilateral series in Australia, after beating the hosts 3-0 in a three-match T20 series.