MUMBAI (TIP): As the clock begins to tick away for the Board of Control for Cricket in India‘s (BCCI) Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) to zero in on Team India’s new coach, a question – better asked sooner than later – has become the talking point.

How exactly do the members of this committee propose to recuse themselves from any potential conflict in settling for who they think will be a suitable candidate for the position of the national coach? To be fair, there’s no conflict to mention in definitive terms. Yet, as the word itself (conflict) continues to trigger panic in the country’s cricketing fraternity these days, there’ll be questions asked and answers will have to be given if there is lack of clarity.

To date, the CAC has not gone into the details of why they chose Anil Kumble over Ravi Shastri in 2016, knowing the latter’s contribution and who the team wanted. “If details are not given, people will speculate. Was there board politics involved? Was there an ego issue between individuals?

Was there a serious conflict of interest? And when answers to such things come out from unexpected places, they end up giving way to all kinds of controversies,” say those tracking developments from close quarters. Shastri and Kumble, both, lived up to their roles impressively, but it is not the ability of the candidates that is coming in to question. Instead, it is the ability of the CAC to do the right thing that went unanswered last year and once again comes under the scanner.