Was WV Raman forced to apply for Indian women's coach post?

WV Raman (right) returns to his hotel with a friend after being interviewed at the BCCI headquarters yesterday. Pic/ATUL Kamble

WV Raman, the new coach of the Indian women's team, may have been pushed into applying for the post to counter World T20 coach Ramesh Powar's credentials, it is learnt.

According to sources in the BCCI, only a few preferred Raman as a candidate against Powar whom Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandana favoured. The views of the captain and vice-captain of the T20 team were endorsed by Committee of Administrators member Diana Edulji.

The question being asked in cricket circles is, why was Raman interviewed when he is already on the BCCI's pay roll through his work at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).

He also accompanied the Emerging Under-23 tournament in Sri Lanka apart from working with the India under-19 team. All this adds to the intrigue of the coach's appointment which was officially announced by the BCCI through a media release at 10:45 pm yesterday.

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