Dav Whatmore

Calcutta: Indications are that there’s nobody to really challenge Dav Whatmore in his quest to become the Team India coach.

That, however, hasn’t stopped eyebrows from being raised over his role in the toss fiasco which has almost given the (ongoing) final Test and series to Rahul Dravid.

There’s bewilderment that Bangladesh’s outgoing coach ignored conventional widsom and didn’t convince his captain, Habibul Bashar, to bat first at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium.

In the subcontinent, only the foolish prefer to field.

According to The Telegraph’s sources, Sunil Gavaskar, who is one of three former captains on the committee empowered to select Greg Chappell’s full-time successor, is likely to have a real big say when it meets in Bangalore on June 4.

If his widely read columns are anything to go by, then Whatmore’s backers probably have reason to sweat.

On Friday, at the end of Day I of the mismatch in Dhaka, Gavaskar didn’t mince words: “… Bashar will no doubt be criticised by the media after India finished the first day without losing a wicket, but don’t forget that he would have received advice from the dressing room too. It raises the next question as to what kind of tactical advice Bangladesh get…”

Such advice comes from the coach.

Earlier in the week, after Bangladesh employed safety-first tactics in the closing stages of the Chittagong Test, Gavaskar wrote: “It is no secret that Bashar is not the greatest tactical captain. So, what was the dressing room doing?”

No prizes for guessing where that missile was directed at.

Gavaskar had also been on the committee which picked John Wright’s successor, Chappell, two years ago.

It’s hardly a secret that he’d then favoured a desi — Mohinder ‘Jimmy’ Amarnath — but didn’t find much support as Chappell had influential backers.

Come June 4 and much of the attention is again bound to be on the line taken by Gavaskar.

Srinivas Venkatraghavan and interim cricket manager Ravi Shastri are the other ex-captains on the committee headed by Board president Sharad Pawar.

Both had been on the last one as well.

Board secretary Niranjan Shah, joint-secretary Mohinder Pandove and treasurer N. Srinivasan are also on the committee set up last month.

Whatmore has formally expressed his “keenness” to come on board. He did so at a meeting arranged by Shastri in Chittagong last Saturday.

The 1996 World Cup-winning coach’s interaction with Shah and the Board’s chief administrative officer, Ratnakar Shetty, lasted between “five-ten minutes.”

The meeting took place in Shah’s suite at the Peninsula Hotel.

Whatmore, who was being wooed by Pakistan, has said ‘no’ to working with the Shoaib Maliks.

That, at least, should go down well with the desi lobby within the Board.

Whatmore, clearly, has bet big.