Sulking Rajput awaits new role

Amlan Chakraborty

New Delhi, Mar 24 (PTI) Jettisoned by the BCCI in the recent support staff shakeup, former Team India manager Lalchand Rajput cannot figure out why the historic Twenty20 World Cup win and the sensational tri-series triumph in Australia could not save his job.

"Obviously it's disappointing to see that I have not been retained. I tried my best and the results too are also there. But I guess I can't do anything about it. I have to be positive about the whole thing," a sulking Rajput told PTI from Mumbai.

BCCI last week retained fielding coach Robin Singh and bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad for India's Test series against South Africa but Rajput, who served as the assistant coach in Australia, got no such favour.

Asked what would be his new role now, Rajput said he was waiting for a word from the BCCI.

"I'm waiting to hear from the Board. I'm sure they have something in mind," he said.

After Greg Chappell packed his bag to end his roller-coaster two-year stint, India were without a full-time coach, with Ravi Shastri and Chandu Borde volunteering to guide the side during its tour of Bangladesh and England.

Rajput then took over as the manager of the Indian Twenty20 team and the side under Mahendra Singh Dhoni, despite lack of exposure in the bang-bang version of the game, went on to win the title.

And though India could not beat Australia when Ricky Ponting came here with his team here last year, beating arch-rivals Pakistan in another ODI series was a highlight for the team.

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