Published: Apr 28, 2025, 10:21 PM (IST)
Edited: Apr 28, 2025, 10:21 PM (IST)
The position of spin bowling coach at the Centre of Excellence (COE) of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is vacant as of now, as Sairaj Bahutule left his place this year. Now, former Indian left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi has put himself in the list for the contenders of this post.
The COE was formerly known as the National Cricket Academy (NCA) when it was based out of the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru. It is still in the same city but now operated from a new location as BCCI purchased a land for an even more expanded facility.
Sunil Joshi is currently working with Ricky Ponting in the Punjab Kings IPL team and has also coached Uttar Pradesh during the domestic season and has also worked with Bangladesh’s national men’s team as its spin bowling consultant.
According to sources in BCCI, Sunil came in for his interview online with a panel of three members- which consisted of COE’s head of cricket VVS Laxman, chairman of men’s selection committee Ajit Agarkar and General Manager of Cricket Operations Abbey Kuruvilla.
Another strong candidate is believed to be Rakesh Dhruv, a former Gujarat and Saurashtra left-arm spinner. Veteran off-spinner Pritam Gandhe, a domestic doyen from Vidarbha, has also been interviewed for the post.
“Obviously, Sunil Joshi has the best CV out of all the other candidates. In case of Nooshin, the BCCI is also going to have an elaborate women’s wing with dedicated staff for international, national and domestic age-group women’s cricketers,” a secior BCCI offifcial said.
“While playing elite level does embellish the CV and Sunil is the only (men’s) Test cricketer among those who appeared for interview, his biggest plus is considerable experience in elite level coaching,” he added.
“He has coached multiple first-class teams, has been a part of IPL coaching set-up and also coached senior men’s international team. And don’t forget, he is from Bengaluru, which makes a lot of sense logistically,” he concluded.
The chosen candidate will be expected to not just provide technical insight to international stars like Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav or Washington Sundar but also work with a host of India A, India U-19 and top domestic performers, along with creating a synergy between state team coaches, and coordinate with national selectors for players’ preparation during return to play after recovery from injuries.
