Board of Control for Cricket in India's secretary Anurag Thakur left for Colombo, on Wednesday, where he will meet with the Indian cricket team's director, Ravi Shastri, on the sidelines of the second Test, starting Thursday.
It is learnt that the BCCI plans to take a final call on the appointment of the team's new coach before the start of the South Africa series next month.
The official reason given for Thakur's Sri Lanka trip is felicitating retiring Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara on behalf of the BCCI, but he will use the visit to meet with Shastri.
"BCCI secretary [Thakur] will be in Sri Lanka for the first two days of the second Test match. He has other political as well as BCCI commitments and will have to be back by August 22nd," a top BCCI official said.
"He will be interacting with the Indian cricketers and is likely to have a meeting with Team Director [Shastri]. Obviously, the talks will veer around the Indian team's performance and areas of improvement," he added.
There is every possibility that Shastri's tenure and his future with the Indian cricket team will come up for discussion, since the high-profile Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) will be meeting in September.
"The date is yet to be finalised but there is a CAC meeting in September where we will get a clearer picture about the appointment of the chief coach," the official said.
It is learnt that Thakur had a separate meeting with former India captain Sourav Ganguly on the sidelines of the Indian Premier League's Working Group meeting.
Both Thakur and Ganguly are part of the IPL Working Group, which concluded its discussions in Delhi on Wednesday.
"As of now, Shastri's appointment as Team Director has been on a series-to-series basis. But with World T20 in another six months' time, the BCCI is keen on having a bit of clarity on the coaching staff issue," the official added.
Meanwhile, the ad-hoc committee of the BCCI, formed for resumption of cricketing activity in Bihar, submitted its report to Thakur.
"They were instructed to submit the report of their findings after visiting Patna within three working days. Accordingly, the committee has today submitted its findings to the Board secretary. Now a call will be taken on the time by which the trials for the junior age-group teams can start," the official said.
It is learnt that the three states -- Manipur, Mizoram and Chattisgarh -- who applied for affiliation will have separate cases.
"Chattisgarh is an associate member and they have a stadium. Their demand is of full membership. Manipur is now an affiliate member. They will probably be promoted to associate membership while Mizoram will probably get the affiliate membership. BCCI membership starts with affiliates, then to associates and then full membership which ensures voting rights," he explained.
