Tom Moody and three other prominent names apply for Team India’s head coach role

Tuesday was the deadline for the submission of applications for the positions in India’s support staff team, including that of the head coach. The process now goes into the second stage where the applications will be scrutinized and applicants shortlisted.

Those shortlisted will be interviewed by the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) comprising former India captain Kapil Dev, former batsman Anshuman Gaekwad and former women’s captain Shanta Rangaswamy. Both Kapil and Gaekwad have served as coach of the national team.

The interview process for the coaching staff members is likely to start August 13 and as per the new constitution, the interview process will be conducted by the national selection committee members, according to a report in Hindustan Times.

Incumbent head coach Ravi Shastri and other support staff members have found an automatic entry in the recruitment process. The current coaching team has given an extension till the new team is in place and it will accompany the Indian team on its tour of the West Indies starting August 3.

A lot of names in the race for coaches

Many other personalities of cricketing reputation have applied for the positions this time. Former India fielding coach and Mumbai Indians (MI) head coach Robin Singh; former international coach Tom Moody who has also coached Sunrisers Hyderabad; former New Zealand coach Mike Hesson; former Sri Lanka captain and MI coach Mahela Jayawardene are in the fray. Another former MI coach – fielding – Jonty Rhodes has applied for the fielding coach role.

India captain Virat Kohli recently expressed his favour for Shastri as the head coach. The two share a rapport and has seen India scripting a number of memorable wins in the past one year – including ODI series wins in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand; Test series win in Australia and T20I series win in England.

Shastri will be in the Caribbean when the interview process gets underway and is likely to do the presentation over Skype. It may be recalled here that Shastri was left with a sour taste in his mouth when the coach’s interview took place in 2016 as he accused former India captain Sourav Ganguly of disrespecting him by not being present at the interview as a member of the CAC then. It was Anil Kumble who had pipped Shastri to become the coach but he did not last long and Shastri replaced him the next year.

This time, applications have also been invited for coaching positions in batting, bowling, fielding, physiotherapist, strength and conditioning besides that of the administrative manager. If everything goes as per the schedule, the name of the next India coach will be revealed by the middle of August.