India, Sept. 12 -- The BCCI on Friday invited applications for Head of Sports Science and Medicine at its Centre of Excellence after being unable to fill the key position that has been vacant since the resignation of Nitin Patel in March 2025.

BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia and COE head VVS Laxman have publicly spoken about the challenges in filling the vacancy.

The application deadline is September 30.

Former India physio Andrew Leipus was BCCI's top choice for the post, but he "backed off" citing family reasons.

"After Nitin left, we did not get anyone who could fill in that position. We had Andrew Leipus, and everything was agreed upon. In fact, (BCCI secretary) Devajit (Saikia) had two or three meetings with him, but suddenly Andre...