The reason why Ravi Shastri was preferred over Virender Sehwag revealed

What's the story?

It has been revealed that former India opener Virender Sehwag had skipper Virat Kohli's complete backing and was the front-runner to grab the role of India's new coach going forward ahead of the eventual successor of Anil Kumble, Ravi Shastri. The Indian team also had no problems whatsoever with any of the other candidates who applied for the head coach, according to a report from The Times of India

Sehwag, however, wanted to bring a team of support staff with him if he was appointed as the coach, something that went against the Nawab of Najafgarh and in favour of Ravi Shastri, who understood the work ethic put in by the current team of support staffs.

"The CAC did a fair job in assessing all candidates and came with the best possible decision. What went in Shastri's favour was also the fact that he understood the importance of the work ethic put in place by the existing support staff members who have worked with the team for close to three years," one of TOI's sources informed.

Extra cover: Sehwag was the front runner for India coach job

In case you didn't know...

Virender Sehwag was one of the five candidates including the likes of Ravi Shastri, Richard Pybus, Tom Moody and Lalchand Rajput, who attended an interview in appointing the new Indian coach.

They had a brief discussion with the members of Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar (via skype) and put forward what they will bring the table if given a nod. Moody, Shastri and Sehwag were impressive in the interview and the CAC decided to go with Ravi Shastri as the new coach.

The details

The moment when he was approached by the BCCI to apply for the role, Sehwag established communication with the Indian skipper to get "a feel of things". Things were going well between both the Delhi players until Sehwag proposed to bring his own team of support staff with him. If the reports are to be believed, the likes of physiotherapist Amit Tyagi and Kings XI Punjab assistant coach and Sehwag's Delhi team-mate Mithun Manhas were supposed to be a part of Sehwag's team.

After knowing about Sehwag's proposal, Kohli reportedly told him that there is a professional set-up already in place and put the onus on the CAC to pick the new coach.

What's next?

Shastri's first assignment will be India's tour of Sri Lanka later this month and the Mumbaikar will look to give his best in his two-year tenure that ends right after the 2019 World Cup.

Author's Take

If these reports were to believed, Sehwag, not Shastri, was the front-runner to take over the baton from Anil Kumble. But, kudos to the CAC for taking a good call by persisting with the current set of support staff, who have done a brilliant job in the last three years.