Shastri told Deccan Herald that all it remained for the formalisation of the contract was for the man who Sri Lanka to the 1996 World Cup to sign on the dotted line, sometime over the next ten days. "Dav will be in Mumbai during the final one-dayer between India and Australia (October 17), and will take charge of the Academy almost immediately after that, sometime in the third week of this month," the former Indian captain added.

Whatmore had initially been a front-runner for the Indian coach's job after Greg Chappell sought no extension to his two-year contract, but missed out owing to a variety of reasons, including the fact that the senior players plumped for Graham Ford. It is another matter altogether that Ford turned down the Indian offer despite having expressed his willingness to take up the job.

Having always expressed a desire to be involved with Indian cricket in a serious capacity, Whatmore is now open to grooming talent at the NCA which, Shastri pointed out, will soon start to function annually, and in a professional manner. Shastri, who recently took over as NCA chairman following the ouster of Kapil Dev once the latter signed up with the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL), will oversee the running of the association and be involved in putting things together as well as decision-making. The actual cricketing activities will be the domain of Whatmore, an acknowledged thinker of the game with a sharp brain and well versed with modern methods of coaching as well.

"Dav will eventually have his own team in place — a physio, a physical trainer, a bowling coach, a fielding coach, the works," Shastri revealed. "He will be in charge of all aspects cricketing, he will have the final say in cricket-related matters."

There is also a proposal for the activities of the NCA to move for a couple of months in the winter to Chandigarh, though the home base will continue to be Bangalore.