Amidst reports that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is mulling to scrap the interview process for the next India coach, it has now emerged that the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) will select the head coach after interviewing six shortlisted applicants in Mumbai on Monday, July 10.
Frontrunner Ravi Shastri, along with Virender Sehwag, Tom Moody, Richard Pybus, Dodda Ganesh, Lalchand Rajput, Lance Klusener, Rakesh Sharma, Phil Simmons and Upendranath Brahmachari (only candidate from a non-cricketing background) had applied for the high-profile job that has been vacant ever since Anil Kumble retired from the post after India's Champions Trophy 2017 final defeat to Pakistan in June.
From the 10, the BCCI has shortlisted six candidates -- Shastri, Sehwag, Moody, Simmons, Pybus and Rajput for the interview. Klusener, who had worked as coach in inaugural edition Tamil Nadu Premier League in 2016, has been kept on standby.
The interview will begin at 1pm IST on Monday. It was scheduled to start at 12:30pm, but Sachin Tendulkar, who along with VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly, is part of the CAC had request for a late start, according to India Today.
The new coach will also be announced by the BCCI on the same day, according to the report. Notably, during last year's selection process, the governing body had taken two days after an interview to unveil Kumble as coach.
Shastri, who lost the race to Kumble last year, is the clear favourite for the coaching role. Notably, the former India captain had not initially applied but threw hat in the ring only after the BCCI decided to extend the deadline to July 9 following Kumble's unforeseen resignation.
India skipper Virat Kohli reportedly wanted Shastri back in the dressing room as the two shared a good relationship during the latter's tenure as Team Director between 2014 and 2016.
The BCCI, reportedly, has advised to the CAC to make sure that new coach will be able to work with the Indian team captain without any difficulties.
Notably, Kumble, after stepping down, called his relationship with Kohli "untenable". It was reported that the skipper and the former coach were not in talking terms for quite a while before the inevitable happened.
