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Kiwi becomes new India coach
02/11/2000 14:17 - (SA)
Bombay - Former New Zealand captain John Wright will take over as the first-ever foreign coach of the Indian cricket team later this
month, it was announced on Thursday.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) settled for Wright ahead of Former Australian Test stars Greg Chappell and Geoff Marsh, who were also interviewed.
"Wright was the right man for the job as Marsh could not meet our conditions, while Chappell demanded an astronomical figure," said former BCCI president Raj Singh Dunarpur, who was on the four-man selection panel.
"We had spoken to Wright and Chappell earlier, while we had long discussions with Marsh for the last couple of days.
"Marsh finds it difficult to leave his family for a long period of time while the Board insisted that he be with the team for most part of the year, which was not acceptable to him," Dungarpur said.
The details of Wright's contract will be announced by BCCI president AC Muthiah later on Thursday.
Dunarpur hinted that Marsh may be hired as a consultant to the Board, a job earlier held by former Australian captain Bob Simpson.
Muthiah, National Cricket Academy chief coach Hanumant Singh and former Test captain and renowned international umpire Srinivas
Venkatraghavan were the other members of the selection panel.
Wright is expected to take over for an initial one-year term just before the first of two Tests against Zimbabwe to be played in New Delhi from 19 November.
The New Zealander, coach of Indian Test star Rahul Dravid's English county side Kent, was backed by senior players like captain Sourav
Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar.
The 46-year-old Wright played 82 Tests for New Zealand, scoring 5 334 runs at an average of 37.82.
The BCCI hunted for a foreign coach when former Indian great Kapil Dev quit midway through his two-year term after being investigated
in connection with the current match-fixing scandal.
Kapil, Test cricket's leading wicket-taker until West Indian Courtney Walsh overtook him in March, said he had lost interest in the game after being embroiled in the controversy.
The Central Bureau of Investigation, however, cleared Kapil's name in it's report made public on Wednesday. - Sapa-AFP
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