Sourav Ganguly describes 'appalling' experience while hiring Ravi Shastri as India head coach

Former India captain and president of Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) has written a strongly-worded letter to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), expressing concerns about the way the sport is being run in the country.

Ganguly, for the first time, has opened up about the manner in which Ravi Shastri was appointed the head coach of the senior national men's team last year and said his experience while being part of the process was "appalling."

The former opener, who has made the transition from a player to cricket administrator, also lamented the way in which decision made by committees were overlooked by the apex body of the sport in the country.

"Decisions made in committees are turned around with complete disrespect... My experience in the matter of coach selection was appalling (the less said the better)," Ganguly wrote in a letter to the BCCI top brass, as quoted by the Press Trust of India.

"One of my friends who is involved in matters relating to the functioning of Board asked me who should they go to. I had no answer. I had to ask who should I invite for an international game from a particular association as I did not know what was going on."

Notably, Ganguly along with Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman were part of the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) that had conducted interviews of six candidates for the role of head coach after Anil Kumble's resignation last year.

The BCCI had received a lot of flak for creating confusion during the selection process. The cricket board did not extend Kumble's one-year contract and invited applications for the head coach role, days ahead of India's Champions Trophy campaign in England last year.

The BCCI also extended the deadline for submitting applications so as to allow Shastri, who was not in the scheme of things initially, to join the pool.

The CAC was also left red-faced after the interviews were completed as Ganguly told a media conference that the committee did not want to rush the selection process and rather allow captain Kohli a couple of days to think over the choices. However, upon Supreme-Court appointed Committee of Administrators' insistence, the BCCI announced Shastri as the coach the same evening.

The CAC's suggestion to have Rahul Dravid and Zaheer Khan as batting and bowling consultants, respectively, was also overlooked by the team management as the two greats have not worked with Shastri's men yet.

Ganguly slams BCCI over handling of sexual harassment case

Ganguly was seemingly disappointed with the way the CoA, appointed by the apex court of India to oversee the operations of the BCCI, handled the sexual harassment case against the board's CEO Rahul Johri.

He also pointed out that the CoA had shrunk from a four to a two-member committee and that the two — Vinod Rai and Diana Edulji — seem to be divided.

Notably, Johri, who was accused of sexual misconduct by an anonymous woman on social media, is being investigated by a three-member committee set up by the CoA.

While Rai had insisted he would wait for an inquiry report from the committee before taking a call, Edulji had openly criticised Johri and wanted him sacked.

"I don't know how far it's true (the allegations against Johri), but the recent reports of harassment has really made the BCCI look very poorly (sic)... More so the way it has been handled," Ganguly added.

"With a deep sense of worry, (I used the word worry), I beg to state that the way things have gone in the last couple of years, the authority of Indian cricket to the world and the love and belief of millions of fans is on the way down.

"The committee of COA from four has come down to two, and now the two seem to be divided..."