Gary Kirsten among ten shortlisted candidates for India coach

As per a report on ESPNcricinfo, ten candidates have been shortlisted from a pool of 28 applicants with Gary Kirsten, Herschelle Gibbs, Dimtri Mascerhanehas, Brad Hogg, Trent Johnston, Venkatesh Prasad, Manoj Prabhakar, WV Raman and Ramesh Powar being the prominent ones.

Kirsten, of course, is the most high profile candidate. He coached the Indian men’s team to the No.1 Test ranking and helped them win the 2011 World Cup after a gap of 28 years. He had taken charge of the side after the exit of Greg Chappell, and earned rave reviews for his exceptional man-management skills. He struck up a wonderful partnership with Mahendra Singh Dhoni to produce one of the best stretches in the history of Indian cricket.

It remains to be seen if Kirsten, who is also the head coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, is asked to give up that post on the grounds of conflict of interest if he is picked up for this job.

The backdrop against which Kirsten has entered the fray is similar to that of what it was with the men’s team back in 2007-08.

Powar, the former India offspinner, was given a three-month contract which expired on November 30 after India’s semifinal appearance in the World Twenty20 after eight years. His work included a series win across ODIs and T20Is in Sri Lanka. A lot of players appreciated him for changing the mindset and impressing upon them the value of playing fearless cricket, but his differences with Mithali Raj, the senior-most player in the squad who was not included in the line-up for the semifinal against England that India lost by eight wickets, became public through a series of leaked emails.

Mithali in her letter to the BCCI wrote that Powar closed communication channels with her while in the Caribbean, while the coach felt that a legend like her should put team over self. It was felt that Powar, who was eligible for a 12-month extension on favourable review, and Mithali could not last in the same setup and BCCI advertised for the vacant post immediately, with eligible and interested applicants asked to send in their resume by December 14.

Soon after that Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana, the T20I captain and vice-captain respectively, before leaving for Australia for the Women's Big Bash League wrote separate letters to the BCCI extending their support to Powar. Harmanpreet also said that the decision to not play Mithali in the semifinal was a management call and not only Powar’s.

Diana Edulji, one of the two-member Committee of Administrator wrote to her counterpart Vinod Rai, saying that Powar’s tenure could be extended at least till the tour of New Zealand in late January next year, which is India’s next assignment. Rai, however, said that such a move was not possible as candidates had already applied for the post.

Powar was among the last few candidates to have applied after being initially hesitant. “After seeing Harman and Smriti’s backing, I have decided to re-apply. Rather, I felt it was my duty to apply as I did not want to disappoint them if they believe in this kind of coaching,” Powar was quoted as saying to Cricbuzz   two days before the deadline. “Rest is, obviously, in BCCI’s hands. In fact, a lot of girls have spoken good for me and I didn’t feel like letting them down.”

If Powar does not get an extension then India will have their fourth coach in less than two years after Purnima Rau was sacked before the 2017 World Cup and Tushar Arothe resigned earlier this year after the T20 Asia Cup loss.

The formation of the ad-hoc committee also has been controversial after the Cricket Advisory Committee consisting of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman did not respond to BCCI’s email requesting them to carry out the process.