Shanta Rangaswamy: Coach selection for women's team was more difficult

Shanta Rangaswamy addresses the media yesterday. Pic/ Atul Kamble

Selecting the coach (WV Raman) for the women's team was, "more difficult" than the men's team (Ravi Shastri), according to Shanta Rangaswamy, a member of the coach selection committee that retained the former cricket star yesterday.

Speaking over the phone as she was heading to the airport to fly back to Bangalore, Rangaswamy said, "There were a lot of controversies back then and people washed dirty linen in public. Even though people had said that Shastri would be retain as coach, we did not go by public influence. He has been chosen on merit.

"Each candidate was given a 30-minute slot but we were not rigid on that. Shastri took the longest time. His presentation was very impressive. However, it was a tough decision to make."

It is learnt that each selector marked scores for the candidates based on certain parameters - coaching philosophy, experience, achievements, communication and knowledge of modern coaching tools. Based on the average, Shastri was retained. Mike Hesson and Tom Moody stood second and third while Robin Singh and Lalchand Rajput were fourth and fifth respectively.

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