No way Ravi Shastri can have Sachin Tendulkar as India cricket team consultant

It wasn't a while back when India cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar hoped Ravi Shastri applied for the India coach job and try to be the successor to Anil Kumble. Now that Shastri is formally appointed as the India cricket team coach, BCCI Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) member Tendulkar might be a happy man.

It seems Shastri, who managed to have his way in front of the BCCI and the Committee of Administrators (CoA) and appoint Bharat Arun as the bowling coach ahead of India team veteran Zaheer Khan, is interested in returning the favour to Tendulkar.

Shastri wants Tendulkar as a consultant in his coaching staff, as per reports on Wednesday July 19. Yes, quite the similar kind of a role the former cricketer-turned-commentator-turned coach has offered to Zaheer and veteran batsman Rahul Dravid.

The master blaster, we repeat, holds a key position in the special three-member Cricket Advisory Committee, which also includes cricket legends Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman.

It looks absolutely impossible for Tendulkar to give up his key position in the BCCI and IPL commitments with Mumbai Indians as a mentor, and come on board Shastri's coaching team as a consultant ONLY for India's overseas tours.

Anything else would lead to a conflict of interest.

"Ravi put forward the idea of having Sachin on board as a consultant for a very short period. But the committee promptly reminded him about the conflict of interest clause," the Press Trust of India quoted a member of the four-member panel set up by the CoA.

The four-member panel constitutes the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) acting president CK Khanna, acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary, board CEO Rahul Johri and CoA member Diana Edulji.

"And expecting someone to be around for an extremely short period and leave his other professional commitments is asking for a bit too much," added the member, who didn't want to be identified.