MUMBAI, 8 June 2007 — Who will be the next coach of Team India is still very nebulous.

Graham Ford may be a front-runner after Monday’s meeting. But there are still many ifs and buts hanging on the former South African’s final availability. It is learnt that Ford, presently on a three-year contract with Kent, will be putting stiff preconditions, of which he has already thrown some broad hints. The BCCI will then once again be in a quandary and the issue will continue to hang fire.

Sunil Gavaskar, the chairman of the special committee, was, as expected, responsible for Whatmore’s name being dropped.

The media-acclaimed favorite for the post was, in fact, dismissed with so much disdain that it made a complete mockery of the much-publicized visit of important BCCI functionaries to Chittagong for the purpose of meeting the then Bangladesh coach. The impression that was given was the issue was clinched.

It was the senior players in the present Indian team, skipper Rahul Dravid in the main, who had shifted their choice from Whatmore to Ford and had the same conveyed to Ravi Shastri, who in turn forwarded the present Kent coach’s name at Monday’s meeting. And how did Arjuna Ranatunga’s name emerge as a likely candidate? Gavaskar, a staunch believer in the virtues of having an Indian as the coach, had to make some compromise and suggested the name of the former World-Cupwinning Sri Lanka skipper.

Ranatunga is now an alternative to Graham Ford, should the deal with the latter not materialize. The question to ask: Is he a right choice? Ranatunga may have been a shrewd cricketer, but his coaching experience is nil. He has never been anywhere near a fitness buff and was once on the verge of being dropped from the team for his rotundity.

There is no doubt, however, that he has always been a good motivator.

Those in the committee who are allergic to a foreigner being appointed as coach of the team and have indirectly plumped for the native, may find Ranatunga as an acceptable compromise.

Who knows a slimmer, trimmer and well-groomed cricketer-turned politician may perhaps even deliver the goods. But many will agree that there are several better candidates at home than to get one from a neighboring country.

Meanwhile, the constant flip-flops in the decision-making of the BCCI will only add to the ruin of Indian cricket.