Kapil Dev-led committee to interview candidates for India's head coach on Aug 16

A three-member Cricket Advisory Committee will interview candidates for the post of India's head coach on August 16.

Virat Kohli has time and again batted for continuing with the current head coach Ravi Shastri.

The Kapil Dev-led three-member Cricket Advisory Committee will conduct interviews for India’s head coach at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) headquarters on August 16.

Top Board officials have confirmed to  Sportstar that all the three members of the committee -- Kapil, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy -- have been formally informed about the date. “It will be a one-day affair. We have e-mailed them the date for the interview. There are a few applications that have come in, and we are just in the process of short-listing the final candidates,” one of the BCCI officials said.

While the Board has reportedly received around 2,000 applications for various coaching profiles, only a few big names are in the contention for the head coach role. While India captain, Virat Kohli, has time and again batted for continuing with the current head coach Ravi Shastri -- whose contract expires after India’s tour to the West Indies -- big names like Mike Hesson, Tom Moody, Robin Singh and Lalchand Rajput are in the contention for the top job.

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While the three-member committee will pick the head coach, the candidates for the other positions will be interviewed by the chairman of selectors, MSK Prasad. However, some of the heavyweight applicants told this publication that nothing has been communicated to them as of now.

It has also been learned that Kohli will not give any input on the selection of the next coach. “It is entirely up to the committee to take a call,” the BCCI official said.

Earlier, the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), which runs cricketing affairs in the country, had cleared all the three members of the committee of any conflict of interest, paving the way for the panel to appoint the next head coach.

CoA meeting on August 13

Meanwhile, the CoA members -- Vinod Rai, Diana Edulji and Ravi Thodge -- will meet in Mumbai on August 13 for a meeting. The BCCI elections will be on the agenda, discussions could be held on the Board coming under the NADA ambit and also about the selection of coaches.