Zaheer Khan to be ditched by BCCI? What Ravi Shastri's preference for Bharat Arun as bowling coach means

Bharat Arun is Ravi Shastri's official choice for India bowling coach role. The head coach met with Board of Control for India (BCCI) chief executive officer Rahul Johri on Monday, July 17 to put forward his recommendation.

Notably, Shastri had insisted that he would pick and choose his own support staff, despite the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), comprising Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, recommending the names of Rahul Dravid and Zaheer Khan for batting and bowling consultant roles, respectively.

It was even reported that Khan was used as bargaining chip to convince CAC member Ganguly over Virat Kohli-favourite Shastri's appointment as head coach. Notably, the two former India captains were involved in an ugly spat last year at the end of coach selection process, in which Anil Kumble beat Shastri to the post.

While the CAC's task was only to pick the head coach, questions were raised over their recommendation of consultants. Even the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) said the three-member committee had gone beyond the brief, before putting the contracts of Khan and Dravid on hold.

Meanwhile, the CoA, which asserted it was the coach's prerogative to decide on his support staff, formed another three-member committee -- consisting BCCI's acting president CK Khanna, acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary and CoA member Diana Edulji -- to decide on the issue and make recommendations to its chairman Vinod Rai, who is set to take a final call.

The CoA-appointed committee will meet Shastri in Mumbai on Tuesday, July 18. If recent developments are anything to go by, it is likely that Khan will be shown the door by the BCCI.

Khan not ready for full-time role

Notably, Shastri was open to having Dravid and Khan in consultant roles. However, the World Cup-winning all-rounder had expressed concerns over the latter's full-time availability. He also said his former India teammate Arun, who had worked under him during his tenure as Team Director from 2014 to 2016, was "more experienced in ironing out flaws".

Khan reportedly missed out on an opportunity to join Kohli's team as bowling coach last year as BCCI was not willing to pay Rs 4 crore that was demanded as salary by the pacer. Notably, the 38-year-old was willing to be with the team for only 100 days as opposed to 250 days, the time period a full-time staff is expected to spend with the team.

Conflict of Interest clause against Khan

It has now emerged that Khan is not ready for a full-time role this time as well. Moreover, the left-arm pacer has been associated with Indian Premier League side Delhi Daredevils for the last few years and he will be required to give up the lucrative role to avoid Conflict of Interest even as he is eyeing only a part-time role with the national team.

Notably, U19 and India A coach Dravid stepped as the mentor of Daredevils after concerns were raised over violation of conflict policies. A BCCI official tells ESPNcricinfo that the board will focus on being consistent with its policies before taking a call on Khan.

"I tell Rahul Dravid you can't do an IPL, but [then] I [can't] tell the others you can do what you do and I will pay you. You have to be consistent," the official opined.