The ad-hoc committee of Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad, and Shantha Rangaswamy recommended Raman along with Kirsten and Prasad after interviewing 9 shortlisted candidates on Thursday.
Kirsten was not prepared to give up his role as head coach for IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore so he was not considered thereafter for the post. The choice was then between Prasad and Raman and the latter was preferred because of his expertise as a batting coach, an area the team “needs improvement in”.
Woorkeri Raman played 11 Test matches for India. He debuted for the country on his home turn of Chennai against the West Indies in 1987-88. In that match, he scored 83 runs, though the achievement got overshadowed by Narendra Hirwani’s figures of 16 wickets across the two innings. Woorkeri in his very first over of Test cricket took the wicket of none other than the legendary Courtney Walsh.
He began his career as a left-arm spinner who relied more on his ability to read the batsman’s mental state than on some excessive spin. Soon the lad turned out to be better with the bat. A year later, the Tamil cricketer scored a memorable 313 for the state in a contest against Goa, scoring 1000+ runs in the season and registering a record.
As Indian opening slots continue to look for permanency, Raman was tried too and there he gained some success; But with youngsters like Vinod Kambli and Sachin Tendulkar embracing the big stage, Raman’s career struggled to get going. Soon he was off sight from the first-class and the international scene.
His highest Test score of 96 came in 1990 against the Kiwis. He is also the first Indian to score a century against South Africa.
It has been a month since the head coach position for the women’s cricket team is marred by controversy. Mithali Raj, a senior women’s team cricket player had accused Ramesh Power, the then interim coach for the loss of her spot in India’s line up against England. India lost out from the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in the semi-finals after having a great run in the group stages.
Woorkeri worked alongside Rahul Dravid with the Indian Under-19 squad just recently and has also served as batting consultant for IPL Franchises Kings XI Punjab & Kolkata Knight Riders.
On November 30, BCCI decided to not extend the tenure of Ramesh Powar as the coach of the Indian women cricket team. The cricketing controlling body in India has since been on the lookout for a new coach. 3 days later Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana had extended their support to Ramesh Powar. The cricketers had backed Powar to be the team’s coach till 2021.
What really is the Mithali Raj saga all about? Here’s the timeline!
