Raman beats Powar, Kirsten to become Indian women's cricket coach

Former India batsman WV Raman appointed as Ramesh Powar's successor; Mumbai all-rounder finally loses out following serious disagreements with Mithali Raj during World Twenty20 in Windies

Former India batsman WV Raman has been appointed coach of the Indian women's cricket team. The BCCI, though, created suspense by not making it official last evening. It is understood that his contract will be for two years.

Raman, who replaced interim coach Ramesh Powar, will be the fourth coach for the women's team in 20 months. Powar, who fell out with veteran batswoman Mithali Raj after her controversial dropping in the women's World T20 semi-final, was the first to be interviewed yesterday amongst the nine shortlisted for the coach's job.

Raman will have to resign from his current post as BCCI's batting consultant at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore before taking up the women's coach job. Raman, though, wasn't the first choice of the three-member ad-hoc panel of Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy, who were appointed by Committee of Administrators (CoA) chief Vinod Rai.

The panel's first preference was India's 2011 World Cup-winning coach Gary Kirsten. It is learnt that Kirsten was clearly told by the panel members that he, "can't have the cake and the icing as well." It was in reference with his position as coach with IPL team Royal Challengers Bangalore. Kirsten was asked to choose between IPL or the women's team and the South African decided to go the former.

Since Kirsten declined to take up the offer, Raman was next in line for the job and he accepted it with both hands. Raman refused to comment on his appointment since there was no official statement from the BCCI. The thrust of the panel members for the coach selection was more on player-management ability instead of strategy and future plans.

The BCCI officials tried to play cat-and-mouse with the waiting media with none of the officials stating the reason for the delay in the official announcement. 'You will come to know,' was the standard reply by the officials. The smooth flow of information for the media is perhaps the last thing on the BCCI's mind.

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