The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has zeroed in on 21 of the 57 applications for the post of Team India's chief coach and left it on the three-member advisory committee comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman to take the final call.
The shortlisting of the applications that had come in since June 1, 2016, concluded and board secretary Ajay Shirke, said in a statement: "The cricket advisory committee will process and scrutinize all the applications, conduct interviews and seek presentations from candidates as the committee deems fit."
Shirke added that should the committee desire to look at all the 57 applications as well, the said will be made available to them.
Former BCCI joint secretary and selector Sanjay Jagdale has been appointed the coordinator of this committee and will work with the former India legends on the appointment. The advisory committee is most likely to be caught in the middle of three impressive choices at their disposal. Ravi Shastri, by virtue of having worked with the Indian team as director and as someone who enjoys the support of skipper Virat Kohli; Sandeep Patil, by virtue of having been the chief national selector of the BCCI and having seen the circuit from very close quarters; and Anil Kumble, by virtue of being a legendary ex-cricketer, an exceptional leader and a much respected voice in the game.
Sources following the developments say the final choice for the committee may remain between Patil and Shastri, in that order. Kumble, for all his accomplishments as a cricketer, has only coached in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and both his assignments - first with the Royal Challengers Bangalore and later with the Mumbai Indians - ended disappointingly. More importantly, Kumble does not meet the BCCI's first condition in the advertisement listed for the post.
Shastri, on the contrary, enjoys Kohli and his predecessor MS Dhoni's support - a fact that won't be lost on those in charge of taking decisions. Patil, meanwhile, comes with experience, having been involved with the Indian national team as the chief selector since 2012 and of course his tenure as coach of the Kenyan national team that made it to the semi-finals of the 2003 World Cup. Patil's term as selector is scheduled to end this year.
Since the IPL does not qualify as First Class cricket, Kumble's candidature is likely to be ruled out for now. Between Shastri and Patil, the former hasn't coached at the international or First Class level but has been in-charge of the Indian team for almost 18 months.
