Duncan Fletcher meets Srinivasan, coach says meeting with BCCI president ‘normal and regular’

The BCCI decided not have an enquiry into the debacle in England and Australia but it is reliably learnt that the board is not going to let it go easy, says a report in Deccan Chronicle adding that coach Duncan Fletcher’s breakfast meeting with BCCI president N. Srinivasan in his residence was termed 'Normal and regular' but there could be more than what meets the eye.

“I have had a couple of meetings with the president. I had a meeting with him when I was here for the IPL final. And I had another meeting with him this morning. From my point of view, it went very well. We discussed the kind of issues that I don’t think we can debate in this forum. We had had a good chat for about an hour and a half. From my point of view, we have taken a stock of the present view. We just have to wait and see what happens in future,” said Fletcher.

In fighting amongst team members and poor results are certainly not helping Fletcher’s cause. No Indian coach in the past has managed to hold on to his job after such horrific failures. “It is time his expertise translates in to wins for the country, else it would be difficult to persist with him,” said a senior BCCI official.

Meanwhile Hindustan Times reports that India coach Duncan Fletcher, under huge pressure after the team’s poor performances under his watch in the last one year, especially in England and Australia, was called for a meeting with the cricket board president, N Srinivasan, at his residence on Tuesday morning. Although the Board of  Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief downplayed the significance of the meeting, its timing, a day before the team leaves for Sri Lanka to start a fresh season, could spark doubts whether Fletcher will complete his two-year term which began after Gary Kirsten stepped down following last year’s World Cup triumph.

“I always make it a point to meet the players and support staff whenever I can,” Srinivasan told HT. “And since the team was in Chennai, I wasn’t going to let go of an opportunity to meet the coach. It was a routine and cordial meeting.”

HT had reported on Monday that the former Zimbabwe player faces the heat as India get set for a busy season that also includes home Test series against England and Australia, who had both routed India over the last 12 months.

After Anil Kumble took up the issue of India's debacles in England and Australia in one of the working committee meetings of the BCCI, president N Srinivasan didn't waste any time to have a chat with Team India coach Duncan Fletcher over breakfast on Tuesday, says a report in The Times Of India.

According to both parties, the meeting went well and Fletcher said that "they looked into the issues" that saw India's performance dropping sharply over the years. "We had a one-and-a-half hour meeting where I put forward my views...But this wasn't the first meeting that I had with the president. I had also met him when I came down for the Indian Premier League final," Fletcher said.