Cricket:India have appointed Duncan Fletcher as the coach of the national team on a two-year contract. The announcement, made this morning after a BCCI working committee meeting, confirms the former England coach as the replacement for Gary Kirsten, who led the country to World Cup glory earlier this month.
Fletcher, who was at the England helm between 1999 and 2007, will formally take charge of India after their tour of West Indies, with current bowling coach Eric Simmons managing affairs in the meantime.
BCCI Secretary N Srinivasan told reporters after the meeting: "The contract with Fletcher is for two years. He may not join the team in the West Indies as he has some prior commitments."
Fletcher took on the England job in 1999 during a poor run of form which had seen the team plummet in the ICC Test rankings, and immediately helped to improve their fortunes.
The former Zimbabwe one-day captain never played international cricket in the five-day format, but England's first foreign coach oversaw an historic 2-1 Ashes win in September 2005 - their first for 18 years at the time, earning him an OBE.
The success was soon followed by disappointment, though. England relinquished the Ashes just 15 months later and matters came to a head with their early exit at the 2007 World Cup, with Fletcher's resignation following soon after.
Former England opener Michael Vaughan, who took over as national captain from Nasser Hussain during Fletcher's reign, was full of praise for the 62-year-old on social networking site Twitter soon after the BCCI's announcement.
He posted: "Great coach who will work well with [India captain Mahendra Singh] Dhoni [and] all the talent."
Vaughan also sounded a warning of sorts to his former coach about the potential media frenzy that could follow his appointment, though, adding: "His biggest challenge will come from the media. He has never really understood how it works!"