Kapil Dev 'respects' Kohli for backing Ravi Shastri to remain as Team India coach

Kapil Dev was attending East Bengal's Foundation Day ceremony where the club celebrated its 100-year anniversary on Thursday. 

When the reports asked Kapil about the 'rumored rift' between Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, he said that a lot of things get speculated by the media and also the players should concentrate and aim winning everything possible.  

"You have to do your job. Thoda bohot to aap bhi help karte ho na rumour banane mein (media also adds to the rumour)," Kapil said.

"There is no rumour when you are playing, I don't think so. When you are inside the ground, I can talk about them, I can talk about myself, when you are batting there is no fight."

"Off the field, your thinking can be different, approach can be different. But when you are playing, there is one aim, how you can win the match. That is important. Difference of opinion does not mean you are pulling someone down," he added.

But Indian commentator Harsha Bhogle isn't willing to agree with the Men In Blue skipper.  

Bhogle on Twitter expressed his thoughts on how "it isn't a good idea" a good idea for Virat to publicly voice his opinions about who should be the new India coach when the CoA are looking into the matter. 

Harsha then went on to add, "I wasn't talking specifically about Virat."

"I can understand that if you are asked a question, you answer it but the moment the question was asked, somebody should have said that the selection process is on and so, it wouldn't be right for him to answer it."

Former Indian cricketer Sourav Ganguly, also regarded as one India's best ever skipper also backed Virat Kohli for having an opinion on who should be India's next head coach. 

'Dada' put forward the fact that Kohli is the leader of his side and the captain, so it's fair that the selection committee also takes his say into consideration before making any sort of final appointment. 

"He is the captain. He has got every right to say," Ganguly said.  

"Well, the CAC (Cricket Advisory Committee headed by Kapil Dev) has not contacted me on this. But all of us share a great camaraderie with Ravi bhai and would definitely be very happy (to have him around)," Kohli told reporters when asked for his opinion on the appointment of chief coach on Monday. 

The current support staff comprising incumbent head coach Ravi 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.

Shastri was the team director till June 2016 until India lost in the World T20 semi-finals before being reappointed as head coach in 2017 after Anil Kumble was removed following his differences with Kohli.

The interviews of applicants for India's head coach are likely to take place on August 13 and/or August 14. The deadline for filing the applications for the head coach and support staff is July 30.

The Committee of Administrators (COA) running Indian cricket has tasked the Kapil Dev-led ad-hoc committee to pick the next national coach.

The ad-hoc body comprising former India captain Kapil, Anshuman Gaekwad and former women's captain Shantha Rangaswamy had earlier appointed W V Raman as the womens team coach in December.

Back then, the COA was a two-member panel comprising chairman Vinod Rai and former India women's captain Diana Edulji, who had called the women's coach selection process unconstitutional.

She had asserted that only the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) was empowered to do so. But with serious doubts over the future of CAC comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman the CoA thought it was prudent to hand the responsibility to the ad-hoc panel.