"The seven-member Special Committee headed by BCCI President Sharad Pawar has decided to appoint Ford as the Indian team coach initially for one year," Board Treasurer N Srinivasan told reporters in Chennai.
"Ford will intimate the BCCI before its Working Committee meeting in Delhi on 12th June as to when he would be able to join the team," Srinivasan said.
Srinivasan said as per the cricket board Constitution the BCCI Working Committee has to approve the appointment of Ford
Ford, who took over from late Bob Woolmer as South African coach, had guided the team between 1999 and 2002, one of the most turbulent times for the country's cricket in the wake of match-fixing scandal.
He then joined Kent County Club in 2004 as Director of Coaching where he has a contract running till 2008.
The Special Committee, which included three former India captains, had invited Ford and 54-year-old Emburey to make a presentation after its 4th June meeting in Bangalore when it also rejected an application by former Sri Lankan and Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore.
Ford had an edge over Emburey as he was the favourite among the senior members of the Indian team.
The Indian team had Ravi Shastri, one of the former captains on the Special Committee, as interim Cricket Manager on last month's tour of Bangladesh.
Besides Pawar, Shastri and Srinivasan, former captains S Venkataraghavan and Sunil Gavaskar, BCCI Joint Secretary M P Pandove and Secretary Niranjan Shah were the other members on the Committee.
Ford, the apt replacement for Chappell
Graham Ford, respected for his cricket nous and 'behind the scenes' work culture, could prove to be the right choice as coach of the Indian team post-2007 World Cup.
The 46-year-old South African is an anti-thesis to his predecessor Greg Chappell whose poor man management skills had left the team's unity and players' morale severely damaged.
Ford was Proteas' coach during and after the match-fixing scandal and his motivational skills would be put to good use as the Indians embark on the rebuilding process.
His willingness to spend long hours with his wards at the nets makes it a no-surprise that he was the favourite of India's senior players.
Having worked with the likes of Jonty Rhodes, Shaun Pollock and Lance Klusener, not to forget the late Hansie Cronje, Ford has the standing to advise the Indian 'stars'.
Graham Xavier Ford was born in the Gandhi-land of Pietermaritzburg in Natal on 16th November 1960.
As a sportsperson, he was multi-faceted, having represented Natal in cricket and soccer besides being a qualified rugby union referee.
In cricket, Ford had a brief, ordinary first-class career of seven matches for Natal 'B', but he climbed the rungs steadily in his coaching career.
Soon after his playing days ended in 1990, he got employed as 'Sports Union Officer' with University of Natal.
A commendable performance there landed him the Natal job and he guided his home province to domestic success in 1994-95 and 1996-97.
From there, the national duty was only a matter of time.
Ford was appointed coach of the Under-24 team for the tours of Sri Lanka in 1998 and months later he was working as assistant to the late Bob Woolmer.
After Woolmer's exit at the end of the 1999 World Cup, he was an automatic choice as the senior team's coach.
Ford combined with Cronje brilliantly and the team won 63 percent of their one-day internationals it played under him.
But the chemistry was lacking when Pollock succeeded as captain and Ford was sacked after the team's twin series defeats to Australia in 2001-02.
He joined Kent County Club in 2004 where he has impressed the local and overseas players, including the Indians.
Ford had initially expressed reservations about taking up the job citing family concerns, but the lure of working with world cricket's most vibrant team has proved to be too good to resist.
