Team India to get a permanent manager

Mumbai: The times they are a-changin'. When Boy Dylan sings that, he may not only be talking of mothers and fathers but also of Indian cricket and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The winds of change are blowing in the BCCI and fittingly, they are coming from England.

The just-concluded tumultuous Test series in England is leading to some path-breaking changes in the policies of the BCCI. One important change could be the long-pending demand for a permanent manager for the Indian team. A decision to that effect will be taken at the BCCI's annual general meeting (AGM) here on September 19.

It is understood that the appointment of a permanent manager is one of the key items on the agenda of the AGM. They might name the post of an administrative manager as the Team India manager used to be called or managing director as they call in England or merely manager as they do in Australia.

These technical details could be decided at the AGM but there seems to be unanimity among the office-bearers to accord some kind of permanence to the administrative head of the team. It has not yet been decided whether the manager should be from a cricketing or an administrative background. Besides, the officials are not clear if they should call for an interview or appoint someone straight away.

It has hitherto been a much-maligned post, used as a sop by the powers-that-be in the board to keep intact their vote bank. The post has been distributed among the various officials of the state associations.

Greg Chappell tried adnauseum to convince the board on the need to have a permanent manager. The former coach could not succeed but the recent whitewash seems to have convinced the board to amends its approach towards the administration of the game.

Meanwhile, some strong signals are coming from the east. At a meeting of the heads of the state associations in East Zone, it was decided that the new president should be allowed to form his new team virtually queering the pitch for the election of Ranjib Biswal as the next secretary.

Whether the young Orissa Cricket Association president will get the post, will only be known at the AGM but the East Zone state associations, headed by Jagmohan Dalmiya, will not object if Biswal were to be selected for the post. The OCA secretary Asirbad Behera had also written a letter to that effect.

It was also decided the next vice-president should be from Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), which means someone like Chitrak Mitra or Biswarup Dey, known to be close to Dalmiya, could be the next vice-president from the zone. Amitabh Chaudhary of Jharkhand, who was previously tipped for the post, may have to fight for an office-bearer's post.

There was also a discussion on the selector. Every state association expressed unhappiness over current selector Raja Venkat but stopped short of nominating a new candidate.

'It is felt that the current selector is not watching the matches in the zone. We also feel that an international player like Devang Gandhi or Deep Dasgupta should be the selector from the zone but we will not interfere if the board decides to give one-year extension to the current selection committee,' said one zonal official.