No talks held with Andy Flower: BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel

Duncan Fletcher

Sanjay Patel, the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), rubbished the rumours suggesting that the Board is in talks with the former England team director Andy Flower to replace Duncan Fletcher as the coach of the team following the country’s horror show in the recently concluded tours of South Africa and New Zealand, where the Men in Blue failed to win a single match.

Patel said: “That’s rubbish. I am the secretary of the Board and no such discussions (with Flower) have taken place”.

Earlier in the day, there were widespread reports circulating in the media based on an insider report that said: “Nothing has been finalized as these are preliminary talks with the Board likely to invite applications from suitable candidates for the post next month. Routine process would be followed before handing the responsibilities to the new coach. But so far, Flower has been contacted and let’s see who wins the race”.

Patel, surprisingly, expressed interest in knowing the ‘insider’ who spread such an information. He confirmed that talks will be held with captain MS Dhoni and Duncan Fletcher over the dismal show by the national team in the overseas tours.

He said: “Yes, we will be talking to them. This is a normal procedure that we adopt after every tour. In all probability that would happen only after the T20 World Cup.”