The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Thursday made it clear that a full-time coach for the Indian team would be appointed before it leaves for Ireland and a decision on the matter would be taken early next month.
"There won't be an interim coach. The coach for the team would be chosen by the special committee formed for the purpose on June 4 when it is to meet in Bangalore or within the next six days after that sitting," BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah said in Mumbai today.
Asked about speculation over appointment of a specialist batting coach in the form of former Test star Gundappa Viswanath, Shah said the seven-man committee formed for the purpose would decide on all these matters.
The committee comprises three former captains - Srinivas Venkataraghavan, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri - and some BCCI office bearers with President Sharad Pawar at its helm.
India does not have a full-time coach after Greg Chappell quit after the World Cup and Shastri is acting as cricket manager on the team's tour of Bangladesh.
Shastri has made himself unavailable for the job after his current assignment because of his media commitments and Dav Whatmore, presently coaching Bangladesh, is one of the front-runners to succeed his compatriot Chappell.
On the long-pending players' contracts issue, the BCCI Secretary said that the two-member committee formed for this purpose will talk to the players either in Bangalore or Chennai during the forthcoming Afro-Asia Cup series early next month.
BCCI Vice-President Shashank Manohar and treasurer N Srinivasan are members of this committee.
