The cricket advisory committee has defended its decision to appoint Zaheer Khan and Rahul Dravid to assist India head coach Ravi Shastri.

Shastri succeeded Anil Kumble as coach when the the country’s all-time leading wicket-taker stepped down from the role after the Champions Trophy final defeat to Pakistan.

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The CAC has come in for criticism from the BCCI’s committee of administrators,  questioning the decision to appoint Dravid and Khan as batting and bowling coaches respectively.

The CAC replied that it was fully within its rights to make the appointments, after receiving instruction from BCCI CEO Rahul Johri to make the appointments.

According to ESPN Cricinfo, a CoA member told India media, ‘We have got an e-mail from the BCCI CEO [Rahul Johri] which had Vinod Rai saying you have got absolute free hand in deciding who will coach Indian cricket.’

The CAC said that Shastri and captain Virat Kohli had both been made aware of the decision to appoint the India greats.

‘He was taken into confidence on everything, he was absolutely ready with it – and Kohli was in the loop. We have taken Virat Kohli into our confidence. Every person who is involved knew about this,’ added the CAC.

The CAC also hit back at the CoA’s allegations by commenting on their apathy during the appointment process, saying that they had failed to resolve the coaching dilemma.

‘You ask us to pick a coach and we do it honestly. And then we get battered for no fault of ours. We were asked to pick a coach last year independently. We picked the best candidate. That candidate gave you results for one year, then you kicked him out.

‘The CoA was nowhere in picture to solve the problem. We don’t have the authority to solve the problem. If the CoA was in England and solved the problem, it wouldn’t have come this far,’ said the CAC.

Shastri’s contract runs until the conclusion of the 2019 World Cup in England.