By Elton Gomes
Woorkeri Venkat Raman has been appointed as head coach of the Indian womens cricket team, the BCCI said in a statement late on Thursday night.
Ramans selection was based on recommendations of the ad-hoc committee comprising Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad, and Shantha Rangaswamy. The ad-hoc committee conducted interviews of the shortlisted candidates at the BCCI headquarters on Thursday.
The ad-hoc committee shortlisted three names in the order of preference: Gary Kirsten, WV Raman, and Venkatesh Prasad. However, Kirsten was unable to take up the job due to his ongoing contract with the Royal Challengers Bangalore, which would have entailed a conflict of interest as per the BCCI constitution.
53-year-old Raman will be succeeding Ramesh Powar, whose interim tenure ended on a rather controversial note after a fallout with ODI captain Mithali Raj.
The appointment comes amid divisions within the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) with Diana Edulji and chairman Vinod Rai at odds over the selection process. BCCI treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry said that the entire process does not come on behalf of the board.
An appointment that may be a result of this process can in no manner be called an appointment for and on behalf of BCCI, Chaudhry was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Who is WV Raman?
From his days as a player, W.V. Raman is best remembered as the first Indian to score a century in South Africa after it was reinstated. This was during an ODI match during Indias historic 1992-93 tour of the country. Raman has played 11 Tests and 27 ODIs for India.
The arrival of Vinod Kambli practically ended Ramans international career, but he managed to remain a mainstay in the Tamil Nadu Ranji team.
Since retiring, Raman has built a reputation of being one of the most qualified coaches in the country. He headed the Tamil Nadu and Bengal Ranji teams and has been known for his stint with the Indian U-19 team.
He was a prolific run-getter for Tamil Nadu, scoring 7939 first-class runs. His prime came during the 1988-89 season when he amassed 1018 runs, a record back then which was surpassed by only 15 other batsmen so far. He also scored two double tons and a triple century that season.
He had a modest start to international cricket, top-scoring with an 83 and picking up a wicket in his first over against West Indies, in front of his home crowd in Chennai.
Though his international career was short-lived, he has been in the Indian coaching circuit for a long time, serving as the coach of Tamil Nadu (2005-2007) and Bengal (2001-02, 2010-13). Raman has also been the assistant coach at IPL teams like Kings XI Punjab (2013) and was the batting consultant of Kolkata Knight Riders (2014).
Since 2015, he has been working as the batting consultant at the National Cricket Academy. During this time, he also took up coaching India A at the Duleep Trophy and Under-19 teams.
Elton Gomes is a staff writer at Qrius