The BCCI have shortlisted six candidates including current coach Ravi Shastri, who will be interviewed for the position of India’s next coach on Friday (August 16). There was a slight delay in the interview process as the three-member Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) consisting Kapil Dev, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy, felt some paperwork still needed to be addressed.
Now, that the paperwork is complete, the six candidates – former New Zealand coach Mike Hesson, former Australia allrounder and Sri Lanka coach Tom Moody, former West Indies allrounder and Afghanistan coach Phil Simmons, former India team manager Lalchand Rajput, former India fielding coach Robin Singh and Shastri – will be interviewed at the BCCI’s head office in Mumbai.
According to a report in CricketNext on Monday, all the candidates will have different time slots for interviews.
“The board have finalised a list of six names based on their experience and qualifications for the post. All the six interviews will be held in Mumbai with different time slots for all the six candidates. The interviews will begin in morning and will go on till 5:30pm in the evening on August 16,” a senior BCCI official was quoted as saying in the report.
“Shastri is the automatic entry into this process like the rest of the support staff. The CAC will probably rank all the candidates, so BCCI can choose the final candidate on the basis of availability and other conditions. The final decision on how many names will finally be offered to BCCI will be decided by the CAC on the day of the interview,” the official informed.
“Some of the overseas candidates may not be able to attend the meeting, so they would connect with the panel via video call,” another BCCI official informed.
READ: Ravi Shastri certain to be retained India coach as CAC not keen on foreign candidate
Rumours mills are buzzing that Shastri is likely to retain his job specially after captain Virat Kohli admitted that the team shares a healthy relationship with him.
Meanwhile, among the other names to be interviewed, Hesson and Moody are billed as the high-profile candidates challenging Shastri from day one.
Simmons, a late entry in the list, has had the experience of coaching Ireland, Afghanistan and West Indies. During his brief stint with the Windies, he guided them to victory in the 2016 World T20 tournament in India before taking over as head coach of the Afghanistan national team in 2017.
“In spite of all their achievements, none of these names are heavyweight competition to Shastri at the moment. However, the CAC might feel differently because all of them have top level coaching experience and fulfill all the stringent criterion that BCCI have put in place for this job,” the BCCI official said.
Robin Singh was the fielding coach of the Indian team when Rajput was the team manager when India won their first ever World T20 title under MS Dhoni in 2007. Rajput has also coached Afghanistan and Zimbabwe.
Hesson, the youngest of the lot at just 44 years, stepped down from his position as head coach of Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) that triggered rumours that he’s a top contender to replace Shastri.
Moody too is in the fray for the position. The Australian had successfully guided Sunrisers Hyderabad to the title in 2016. He too stepped down from his position after this season and was replaced by Trevor Bayliss.
Friday will decide if Shastri will continue or whether the Indian team will see a new face as the head coach.
