The race for the Indian cricket coach continues to throw up surprises with former
South African batsman Gary Kirsten today emerging as a front-runner for
the high-profile job.
The former South African opener was interviewed in the capital by the Coach Selection
Committee -- comprising former captains Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and
S Venkataraghavan, BCCI Joint Secretary M P Pandove, Treasurer N Srinivasan and
secretary Niranjan Shah.
"Kirsten was interviewed by the committee yesterday in
Delhi. The BCCI will make a formal announcement about the new coach in
a week's time," Board vice-President Rajiv Shukla said today.
"BCCI President Sharad Pawar had said that the
coach will be decided in about 10 days and in keeping with his wish, the coach
selection panel has expedited the process. The Indian Team will definitely have
a coach before it embarks on the tour of Australia next month," he assured.
Kirsten is now almost certain to get the post which
has been lying vacant ever since Greg Chappell resigned following India's World
Cup debacle in West Indies in March.
Kirsten's interview was kept a closely guarded secret unlike
the media frenzy that had greeted former applicants Graham Ford and John
Embuery earlier this year. Ford had backed out of taking over the job after
being interviewed.
A highly-placed BCCI source said Kirsten's meeting with the
coach selection panel was kept under wraps as the board did not want a repeat
of the Ford-experience.
"Kirsten is almost certain to get the job but the cricket
board wants to be careful with all the terms an conditions before making a formal
announcement," the source said.
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