With Ravi Shastri’s tenure as Team India coach coming to an end after the conclusion of the ongoing T20 World Cup in UAE, the new Ahmedabad franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL) have shown interest in signing the ex-cricketer for a similar role.
As per a report in Cricbuzz, the Ahmedabad franchise is likely to rope Shastri along with his support staff from the Indian team, which features bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar.
The report mentioned that the franchise approached the current India coach, who is currently engaged with the Men in Blue in UAE. It further stated that any development in this regard from Shastri’s end will be taken following the conclusion of the showpiece event as he didn’t want any distractions.
Private equity firm CVC Capitals had won the bid to acquire the Ahmedabad franchise for a whopping ₹5,625 crore last month. BCCI had held the process of identifying the two new IPL franchises in Dubai to expand the 2022 tournament to 10 teams.
Soon after bagging the bid, the firm had come under some scrutiny for its investments in companies linked to betting activities in the United Kingdom, but were soon cleared by the BCCI.
Meanwhile, Shastri took over as the coach of Team India in 2014 and under his guidance the team climbed to the top position in the Test format and made it to the final of the inaugural World Test Championship in England. India’s batting legend Rahul Dravid will take over as the team’s new coach and the upcoming home series against New Zealand, which starts from November 17, will be his first assignment.
