Laxman opens up on declining India head coach role and reasons behind not naming CoE’s Sports Science chief

Bharath Ramaraj, CoE

For around three years, Nitin Patel was the head of BCCI’s sports science and medicine at the Centre of Excellence. However, in March last year, he decided to step down from his role. Since then the BCCI haven’t been able to fill up that position. So, what could be the reason behind it?

VVS Laxman, the head of BCCI’s CoE, opened up on why they haven’t appointed a new chief of sports science and medicine. “Sports Science is divided into four verticals. Unfortunately, after Nitin left as the Head of Sports Science, we haven’t found someone who can fill that position,” Laxman told reporters on Sunday. “We tried with Andrew Leipus, everything was agreed upon but for family reasons he backed out.

“And then we had a full-fledged interview process conducted by Dr Dinshaw (Pardiwala), Dr Ashish Soni and myself, where we shortlisted five candidates. The first one was an Australian. But after selecting him, he suddenly backed out saying he can’t move to Bengaluru. One of the important conditions is that it is a full-time job. It isn’t a part-time job or a consultant.

“It is a day-to-day monitoring, not periodic. Then there was another head of sports science, who was with the All Blacks. We engaged with him. He almost agreed and then he backed out. To fill in that position, we need someone who has the knowledge and understands Indian cricketers,” he added.

Laxman also revealed how he had declined the offer of becoming India’s head coach around three years ago. “In 2023, I was supposed to become the head coach,” he said on Sunday. “Because of personal reasons, I was not able to take that up. I went and spoke to Jay Shah twice. He understood my reasons. Because of what Jay and the BCCI have given me, the freedom to execute with my vision, it continues with Devajit and other office bearers.

“I extended for two years, and I committed to the BCCI that here I am not taking up the head coach position, but I will make sure that I establish the CoE, I establish the structure, the processes and the protocols, before I move on,” he added.

The post Laxman opens up on declining India head coach role and reasons behind not naming CoE’s Sports Science chief appeared first on Sports News Portal | Revsportz.