BCCI PRESIDENT SHASHANK MANOHAR SAYS THE BOARD IN NO HURRY TO HIRE NEW COACH

The Board of Control for Cricket in India President Shashank Manohar said on Friday that the Board is in no hurry to hire a new head coach for the team.

The BCCI president said that the India cricket team has no international assignment until June 1, 2011 so they are in no hurry to bring in a head coach. He however, did confirm that they are in the process of finding a replacement for Gary Kirsten who stepped down from the position after India’s successful ICC World Cup 2011 campaign.

“We are still in the process of doing so (finding a new team coach). There's no hurry as the team is leaving for the West Indies only on June 1,” said Manohar while talking to media reporters on Friday.

He also turned down any possibility of deciding on the matter in BCCI’s Working Committee meeting scheduled to be held on April 27, 2011. Manohar said that the agenda of Wednesday’s meeting would include various sub-committees’ reports.

Many names, including England head coach Andy Flower are doing the rounds as the best possible replacement of the South African. There are also talks that the BCCI may hire an interim coach for team’s tour of West Indies starting in June 2011 if they fail to find a fitting replacement for Kirsten.

The BCCI president also confirmed that they have reached an agreement with the Sri Lanka Cricket and their players are now available to their respective Indian Premier League franchises until May 18, 2011.

When asked about the Sri Lanka speedster, Lasith Malinga– who was called back by the SLC for faking a knee injury– Manohar said that he does not know about individual players.

Malinga excused from joining the national side for tour of England citing a knee injury so that he could play for Mumbai Indians in the remaining part of the IPL but the SLC called him back to join a rehabilitation program.

Read More

BCCI rejects Indian players’ demand for Rs 50 million as ICC World Cup 2011 win reward

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has turned down the ICC World Cup 2011 champions’ demand for Rs 50 million as prize money.

Top Indian cricketers recently made an informal demand for the reward money to be increased to Rs 50 million instead of just Rs 10 million for winning the biggest cricketing event.

India won the ICC World Cup 2011 beating Sri Lanka in the final game earlier in April, bringing home the trophy after 28 years.

The Indian players were praised globally for their performance in the mega event and the BCCI decided to remunerate the Men in Blue accordingly.

Immediately after India’s success on 2 April, the BCCI president Shashank Manohar announced a reward of Rs 10 million for each player in the 15-member World Cup squad. He also proclaimed that the support staff would also be awarded Rs 5 million each.

However, a few days after the announcement, leading Indian cricketers asked for an increase in the prize money.

An Indian newspaper quoted a leading cricketer as saying, “If you see, only the top players benefit, and there is no doubt that we earn more than anybody, but what about players like Munaf Patel and others? These players make the Indian team and the BCCI earns so much because of them.”

The newspaper further revealed that the players felt that they deserve more since the Board will be earning huge amounts from India’s World Cup victory.

The players also asked for an increase in the support staff’s reward as they did an outstanding job to steer India to the glory.

The BCCI has refused to shower any further incentives on the cricketers. According to a member of the BCCI, the reward given to players is already more than enough.

“Do you think these players really need to be given so much money? One crore is not a small amount,” a Board official said.

Read More