BCCI to invite fresh applications for support staff, Ravi Shastri will have to re-apply
New Delhi, Jul 16: The BCCI will soon invite fresh applications for the Indian cricket team's support staff, including the head coach, and incumbent Ravi Shastri will need to reapply once his contract expires after next month's tour of the West Indies.
The support staff comprising Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun, batting coach Sanjay Bangar and fielding coach R Sridhar were given a 45-day extension following the World Cup, covering the West Indies tour from August 3 to September 3.
All of them can reapply but the team is set to have a new trainer and physio after the departure of Shankar Basu and Patrick Farhart respectively following India's semifinal exit in the World Cup.
After the West Indies tour, India's home season kicks off with the series against South Africa beginning September 15.
Shastri was appointed India chief coach in 2017 after Anil Kumble's tenure ended prematurely in controversial circumstances.
The 57-year-old was also India's director of cricket from August 2014 to June 2016.
However, India have not won a major ICC event under his guidance though the team did make history by winning a maiden Test series in Australia earlier this year.
"The job openings will put be up on our website in a day or two. Besides the support staff, fresh applications will also be invited for the post of team manager," a BCCI official told PTI.
Former Tamil Nadu captain Sunil Subramanian was appointed team manager in 2017 on a year-contract but he got an extension.
It was the first time that the BCCI had followed a transparent procedure for hiring the team manager, in accordance with the Lodha committee recommendations.
For all positions, the BCCI has done away with direct appointment and follows a proper recruitment process.
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Sri Lanka recovers 87 bodies from Iranian warship sunk off its coast by US submarine
Colombo (AP): A US submarine sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, and Sri Lanka's navy said Wednesday it recovered 87 bodies and rescued 32 people.
The Iranian vessel that was sunk in the Indian Ocean was the Islamic Republic's “prize ship,” US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said at a Pentagon news briefing. Hegseth said it was the first sinking of an enemy ship with a torpedo by the US since World War II.
Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told Parliament that its navy received information that the IRIS Dena, with 180 people on board, was in distress and sinking. The island nation sent ships and air force planes on a rescue mission, he said.
Navy spokesman Commander Buddhika Sampath said by the time navy ships reached the location, there was no sign of the ship and “there were only some oil patches and life rafts. We found people floating on the water.”
He said the 32 people rescued were admitted to a hospital in the seaside town of Galle on the Sri Lanka's southern coast. The bodies recovered were being brought to land, he said.
Dr Anil Jasinghe, a top health ministry official, said one of those rescued is in critical condition, seven are receiving emergency treatment and others are being treated for minor injuries.
The IRIS Dena — one of Iran's newest warships — is a Moudge-class frigate that patrols in deep water for the Iranian navy. It is armed with heavy guns, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles and torpedoes. It also carries one helicopter.
The frigate was the centerpiece of a two-ship international tour in 2023 that included port calls in countries including South Africa and Brazil. It was accompanied by the support ship IRIS Makran, a converted oil tanker.
The US Treasury Department included both ships on a sanctions designation in February 2023 along with eight executives of an Iranian drone manufacturer that supplied the weapons to Russia for use against civilian targets in Ukraine.
At least 17 Iranian naval vessels have been sunk during the ongoing war, said US Adm Brad Cooper, who leads the American military's Central Command.
“We are also sinking the Iranian navy — the entire navy,” he said in a video message.
