57 applicants for cricket team’s head coach post

Mumbai, June 12: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Sunday confirmed that 57 candidates from around the world have applied for the post of head coach of the national team lying vacant since the 2015 ICC World Cup.

"At the close of the June 10, 2016, the timeline set for receiving applications for the position of the Head Coach of the Indian cricket team, BCCI has received a total of 57 applications from coaches within India and overseas," BCCI said in a statement.

The statement added: "The primary scrutiny of the applications received is now being carried out by the office of the secretary of the BCCI, with regards to the applicants, meeting the set eligibility criteria. 

After this initial scrutiny, the list of candidates who meet the criteria will be processed for further consideration."

Some of the notable applicants include former team director Ravi Shastri, national chief selector Sandeep Patil and former seamer and bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad.

Apart from the trio, former national players — pacer Balwinder Singh Sandhu and batsman Hrishikesh Kanitkar — are also contenders for one of the most important job in world cricket.

After Zimbabwean Duncan Fletcher's contract ended after the 2015 World Cup held between February 14 and March 29 in Australia and New Zealand, former India skipper Ravi Shastri served as the team director till the 2016 ICC World T20 in March April in India.

Sanjay Bangar, Bharath Arun and R. Sridhar teamed up respectively as the batting, bowling and fielding coaches under Shastri.

Last month, the BCCI appointed former India all-rounder Bangar as interim head coach for the ongoing limited overs tour of Zimbabwe, while former domestic cricketer Abhay Sharma was named fielding coach.