By Qaiser Mohammad Ali
IANS
Chittagong : A new coach for the Indian cricket team could be appointed early next month when the cricket board's special committee meets in Bangalore, Niranjan Shah, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), said here Saturday.
"A final decision will be taken when our committee meets on June 4 in Bangalore," said Shah, who arrived here with board president Sharad Pawar.
Outgoing Bangladesh coach Dave Whatmore has expressed his willingness to take over the reins of the Indian team, replacing Greg Chappell, who left after his contract expired last month.
Pawar and three BCCI officials are expected to have talks with Whatmore while they are here.
"If somebody wants to meet us we will be happy to meet him," Shah said referring to Whatmore, whose four-year term ends with the ongoing two-match Test series against India.
"But it's not the time to talk about this. A final decision will be taken once the Test series finishes."
Although the BCCI members are not officially scheduled to meet Whatmore, they are likely to use the opportunity to meet the Sri Lanka-born former Australian Test player and know his mind.
The Indian team's cricket manager Ravi Shastri, also in the Pawar-headed seven-member committee formed last month to select the new coach, has already spoken to Whatmore and there are positive signals from him.
The other members of the committee are Shah, BCCI treasurer N. Srinivasan, joint secretary M.P. Pandove and former captains Sunil Gavaskar and S. Venkataraghavan.
Besides BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla and its chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty, Pawar is accompanied by his wife Pratibha and his friend and doctor Ravi Bapat.