New Delhi: Six candidates, including incumbent Ravi Shastri, were on Monday short-listed for the high-profile post of the Indian cricket team’s head coach.
The six candidates are former New Zealand coach Mike Hesson, ex-Australia all-rounder and Sri Lanka coach Tom Moody, former West Indies all-rounder and Afghanistan coach Phil Simmons, ex-India team manager Lalchand Rajput, former India fielding coach Robin Singh and Shastri.
The candidates will give a presentation to the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) headed by the legendary Kapil Dev, and a final decision will be arrived at by end of this week or early next week.
Besides the country’s first World Cup-wining skipper Dev, the newly-appointed CAC comprises Anshuman Gaekwad and former women’s team captain Shantha Rangaswamy. “These six will give presentation for head coach before CAC. It has been learnt that these six have been short-listed for interview with the CAC,” a senior BCCI official, privy to the development, said.
Before leaving for the tour of West Indies, captain Virat Kohli had said that he is in favour of Shastri continuing as the head coach of the Indian team despite the criticism he faced following the semi-final ouster from the World Cup.
The current support staff comprising Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun, batting coach Sanjay Bangar and fielding coach R Sridhar were given a 45-day extension following the World Cup, covering the ongoing West Indies tour from August 3 to September 3.
While the names of Hesson and Moody have been doing the rounds for a while, Simmons, who has had successful stints with Ireland and Afghanistan cricket teams, is also in the fray now.
