By IANS
Bangalore : The Indian cricket board, after a meeting here Monday evening to select the coach for the national team, decided to invite former South African coach Graham Ford and an unnamed person for discussions even as former Bangladesh coach Dave Whatmore seemed to be out of the race.
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) treasurer N. Srinivasan told reporters: "The BCCI met under the chairmanship of president Sharad Pawar to discuss the appointment of a new coach for the Indian team.
"The board has decided to invite Ford, who is currently director of coaching at Kent. We are also going to invite one more person. I am unable to disclose his name as we are yet to ascertain his availability," Srinivasan said.
The two contenders are invited to attend a meeting in Chennai June 9.
When asked about the prospects of former Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore, Srinivasan said his application was also considered before deciding to invite Ford and the other person.
"By implication, you can draw your own conclusion," Srinivasan said, hinting Whatmore was virtually out of the race for the time being.
Informed sources hinted that the other person under consideration could be former Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga.
The board explored the pros and cons of engaging the services of a foreign coach vis-Ã -vis an Indian one for over 90 minutes before zeroing on Ford and the unnamed person.
Besides three other officer-bearers, former captains Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and Srinivas Venkataraghavan attended the meeting.