Duncan Fletcher has signed a two-year contract to coach the Indian national cricket squad. (Lee Warren/Getty Images)Former England coach Duncan Fletcher was appointed the new coach of India with a two-year contract on Wednesday.
Despite the announcement by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Fletcher told The Associated Press by telephone that the contract was yet to be finalized.
"I cannot say anything until the BCCI has finalized my contract," said Fletcher, contacted at his home on a golf course in Hermanus, Western Cape.
"I need to be consistent with everyone and do as the BCCI have asked me and that is not to talk to the media. This is a delicate time. I hope you'll appreciate that."
Fletcher said that once negotiations with the BCCI were complete, he'd be happy to talk to the media, but added that "has to be in India."
According to the BCCI, the 62-year-old Fletcher has replaced Gary Kirsten, who didn't want to extend his contract after guiding India to World Cup victory in Mumbai this month.
However, Fletcher may not be part of India's nine-match tour of West Indies in June and July, said BCCI secretary Narainswamy Srinivasan.
Srinivasan said Fletcher "has some prior commitments."
He was expected to be available to lead India on tour in England from July.
Fletcher was short listed by the BCCI along with another former Zimbabwe player, Andy Flower, the England coach.
He will be the fourth foreign coach of India after New Zealander John Wright, Australian Greg Chappell and South Africa's Kirsten.
Fletcher captained Zimbabwe at the 1983 World Cup but never played in tests.
After winning club titles with Western Province and Glamorgan, he became the first foreign coach of England in 1999, when it was ranked the worst Test side.
Within 18 months, he organized England to win a Test series from West Indies for the first time in 31 years and beat Pakistan in a Test in Pakistan for the first time in nearly 40 years.
Ashes series were lost in 2001 and 2002 but 16 years of Ashes misery were ended in 2005 on home soil, when Australia was beaten 2-1, for which Fletcher was issued British citizenship and an OBE.
But England was then whitewashed in Australia in 2006-07.
In one-dayers, England hardly threatened under Fletcher.
It reached the 2004 Champions Trophy final at the Oval but lost to West Indies.
Fletcher resigned after England crashed out of a second straight World Cup in 2007 and became a consultant, helping New Zealand and, most recently, South Africa for the latest World Cup.
Meanwhile, the BCCI also re-signed Eric Simons as the India bowling coach and doubled the cash bonus for the World Cup-winning players, who will receive 20-million rupees ($420,000 US) each.
