Virender Sehwag was one of the front-runners to bag Indian coach’s post but Ravi Shastri pipped him to occupy the prestigious job. The former Indian opener revealed that he was never interested in applying for the job but did it only because the BCCI officials requested him to do so.
Sehwag said that he had a chat with the Indian skipper Virat Kohli during the ICC Champions Trophy and he also asked him to go for the job. Ravi Shastri had no plans of applying then but he did it later after BCCI extended the deadlines for the submission of the applications. Sehwag added that he won’t have applied if he knew Shastri was going for it too and he went on to admit that he would never apply in the future.
“I thought since they [BCCI top-brass] are requesting me, I should help them. I never thought of applying on my own nor I will ever apply in future. I also had a word with Virat Kohli, he asked me to go for it. It was only then that I applied. If you ask for my opinion, I would say that I was never interested,” Sehwag told India TV.
“When I was in England during the Champions Trophy [2017], I had asked Ravi Shastri that why he hasn’t applied for the post? Shastri then told me that he will not repeat the mistake which he had already made once,” Sehwag said.
“If Ravi Shastri had applied earlier, then I don’t think there would have been any chance of me applying for the post. I would have never applied.” added the right-hander.
Anil Kumble’s controversial exit as the Indian head coach led to a dramatic selection process. Shastri and Sehwag were the top contenders for the job but the former ended up winning the battle.
