New Delhi: Jawagal Srinath is the Team India thinktank’s choice as bowling coach for the trip to Pakistan beginning next month.

According to The Telegraph’s sources, captain Sourav Ganguly will formally convey that to Board president Jagmohan Dalmiya on Saturday morning, before the working committee meeting gets underway here.

“Frankly, it’s unlikely that the bowlers are straightaway going to be comfortable with anybody else. More to the point, Srinath has retired only recently (mid-November last) and is respected by everybody in the dressing room. He will be an asset on what is going to be a very tough tour,” a source explained on Friday evening.

Srinath has come into the picture in a significant way as Bruce Reid, who did the job during much of the trip to Australia, isn’t available. It’s not certain whether somebody has sounded him out but, as Srinath told this paper not too long ago, he isn’t averse to giving such an offer a thought — provided, of course, one is received.

Meanwhile, one learns that Board joint secretary Prof. Ratnakar Shetty is being considered for the manager’s post. Regarded as someone who doesn’t get flustered, Prof. Shetty had recently gone to Pakistan as head of the Board delegation to review the arrangements there.

For more than one reason, then, it’s going to make sense if he gets the nod. Incidentally, Prof. Shetty was the manager on the mid-1997 tour of Sri Lanka, when a couple of players got sucked into Rashid Latif’s allegations of match-fixing. As the Board’s man on the spot, he handled the controversy admirably.

Among other things, the working committee is expected to decide on the bowling coach as well as who goes as manager.