22 contenders are vying for Team India’s coach job

Nov 27:  Gary Kirsten leads the pack of Team India’s coach job (UPDATE-1)

According to a statement released on Tuesday morning by the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) has made it clear that former South African batsman Gary Kirsten is in the front-runner for the post of coach of the Indian Cricket Team. However, the final decission will be expecting to come out within a week.

Earlier, the BCCI cleared the ambiguity pertaining over Team India’s coach job on Monday by confirming that a total of 22 applicants are contending for the coveted post. The team will surely accompany coach before it leaves for the upcoming tour of Australia.

The Board had so far 22 applications for the job and the coach selection committee would finalise the name of the coach out of that list in coming days.

BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah confirming it said, "We are not going to look away from the list because we don't want to give too much importance to anyone."

The secretary comment was in the reference of former South Africa coach Graham Ford, who opted out of the job at the last moment after giving assurance to the Board.

The meeting of the coach selection committee is unlikely to held, which include former captains Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and S Venkataraghavan, Joint Secretary M P Pandove, Treasurer N Srinivasan and Secretary Niranjan Shah, as they did not find time to meet but Shah affirmed that the side will move with new coach before it boards the flight to Australia.

"We don't need to meet for that as we can discuss through teleconference too. In any case, you would see a new coach before the Down Under tour," Shah said.

After the exit of Greg Chapell, Chandu Borde, Ravi Shastri and Lalchand Rajput have been working with the team as an interim cricket manager.