Virat Kohli
The legendary Kapil Dev, head of the three-member Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) that will appoint the next head coach agreed with his colleague Shantha Rangaswamy that skipper Virat Kohli's opinion "needs to be respected".
The World Cup-winning former skipper however assured that his panel will do their job to the best of their ability.
Kohli during his pre-departure press conference didn't hide that he would love to see current head coach Ravi Shastri get another term.
"That's his (Kohli) opinion we have to respect everybody's opinion," Kapil told reporters before receiving the 'Bharat Gaurav', East Bengal's highest honour during their foundation day celebrations at the Netaji Indoor Stadium.
Before leaving for the West Indies tour, the Indian skipper has already made it clear that they share a great camaraderie with incumbent coach Ravi Shastri as he backed him to continue till the 2021 Twenty20 World Cup.
This time the CAC comprising Kapil, Anushuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy will select the head coach with application deadline already ending on Tuesday. The incumbent Shastri gets an automatic entry in the selection process.
Before the CAC meets to interview the applicants there are also reports that Shastri is set for an extension as all eyes would be on the Kapil Dev-led committee.
"It's not tough. You just do your job to the best of your ability," he said.
Despite a boycott campaign by a section of fans in the social media, India's first World Cup-winning captain kept his promise and received the honour from the club where he played an exhibition derby against Mohun Bagan.
Kapil received the honour as East Bengal kick-started their centenary year celebrations with an array of programmes.
"Tradition is everything. If tradition was not there we would not have been recognised as a Bengali, Punjabi, South Indian, Tamilian... So we have a tradition that's why we are here," Kapil said, flanked by present and former India football skippers Sunil Chhetri and Bhaichung Bhutia.
"We respect Wimbledon because they have a tradition way of playing on grass. Don't lose your tradition whichever side you come from. I am more fascinated with the fans than the team as they have been supporting the club for 100 years."
Kapil conceded that he was a diehard Diego Maradona fan and the greatest moment was none other than the hand of God.
"When the ball was on his feet, he was the quickest among all the athletes. He could run faster than anybody else. That's what I used to look up to him," he concluded.
