[Rajah]

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has short-listed South Africa's Graham Ford on Monday for the job of national coach and eliminated Australian Dav Whatmore from contention.

A board official told reporters the former South Africa coach and another unidentified candidate would be called to meet its coaching committee on Saturday before a final decision was made.

Ford, 46, had a highly successful two-year tenure with South Africa and is now the cricket director of English county Kent. He applied at the last minute and media reports said he was backed by the senior players.

Indian media speculated the second candidate could be Sri Lanka's World Cup winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga.

The job became vacant when former Australia captain Greg Chappell resigned following the team's shock first round elimination at this year's World Cup.

Whatmore, 53, guided Sri Lanka to victory in the 1996 World Cup and helped Bangladesh reach the second round this year after defeating India in the group stage.

Senior board members met the outgoing Bangladesh coach last month and secretary Niranjan Shah said on Sunday he was the favourite.

However, panel member and former captain Sunil Gavaskar had expressed reservations over Whatmore and wanted an Indian to be considered for the job.

Sunil may have to swallow his pride and let the best candidate be picked for the job, regardless of their nationality. Whatmore has a good record.

 

[Mon™]

Sunil may have to swallow his pride and let the best candidate be picked for the job, regardless of their nationality. Whatmore has a good record.

I hate Gavaskar and his politics. He doesn't deserve a place on the Indian Board. When he played cricket he played for himself, and now as well, his country doesn't hold much importance to him. I mean, how can you leave out Whatmore and call in John Emburey, a guy with a pretty damn bad record in county cricket I've heard, and no international experience whatsoever. This is why India will never get anywhere to the top of the cricketing ladder. All these politics inside the board.

Dav Whatmore was the perfect candidate for Team India, as he had built strong squads with both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and India are at a point of rebuilding right now. Thus, he's got the experience and probably would be able to understand the players better.

Meh, now we've lost Graham Ford too. And, the replacement for the Ireland/England/Scotland tour is Chandu Borde, a 72 year old! They could've given it to someone younger. Why, why did they have to give the post to him, even if it was just for one series. Pitiful really.