Chetan Chauhan

Darjeeling: Just a few weeks after he’d suggested that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) consider appointing a desi coach, Chetan Chauhan’s own name has begun to do the rounds.

Somewhat out of the blue, one may add.

“There’s a good chance that somebody could, on June 4, propose that Chauhan be appointed (Greg) Chappell’s full-time successor,” a well-placed source told The Telegraph on Thursday.

Chauhan, who has been coaching Delhi, is a former India opener, manager and senior national selector. Till late at night, he couldn’t be reached for a comment.

Incidentally, Chauhan is a former BJP MP and holds a senior position in the faction-ridden DDCA.

The ball is in the seven-member special committee’s court. The committee, with BCCI president Sharad Pawar in the chair, meets in Bangalore on June 4.

The other members of the committee, which has been empowered to select the next coach, are former captains Srinivas Venkatraghavan, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, secretary Niranjan Shah, joint-secretary Mohinder Pandove and treasurer N. Srinivasan.

Australian Dav Whatmore appears to have closed the ‘deal’, so to say, but it could get very interesting if Chauhan’s name is actually proposed by one of the committee members.

A section within the BCCI is, after all, for appointing a desi coach. We’ve been having foreigners November 2000 onwards — John Wright followed by Chappell.

The other day, former India allrounder and coach Madanlal said that he’s keen on a second innings. However, there seems no movement on that front.

Madanlal, it may be recalled, was the coach in 1996-97. Like Chauhan, he’s a former senior national selector.