29 May,2017 06:52 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Virender Sehwag, who was the mentor of IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab this year, is set for a face-off against Anil Kumble after applying for the job of the Indian cricket team's head coach
Virender Sehwag
It's official! Former India opener Virender Sehwag is among five candidates to have applied for the post of Team India's head coach. Sehwag, who was the director of operations of IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab this year, will face-off against incumbent Anil Kumble for the post as he will be one of the front-runners for the job along with some of the other names who have also applied for the top job.
The others to have applied to the post are Tom Moody, Richard Pybus, Dodda Ganesh and Lalchand Rajput.
While Kumble's term comes to an end after the Champions Trophy, he is an automatic entry into the process.
Moody has earlier coached Sri Lanka, and had earlier also applied for the India's coach's post. Englishman Pybus has coached Pakistan.
Rajput is currently the head coach of the Afghanistan cricket team.
Ganesh was a right-arm medium-fast bowler who was the top performer for his domestic team, Karnataka, at a time when it boasted of national players like Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, Anil Kumble and Sunil Joshi.
However, the entry of Sehwag -- one of India's greatest ever game changer -- makes the battle for the position very interesting.
He doesn't have any prior coaching experience apart from mentoring KXIP. It is being said that the BCCI top brass convinced him to apply for the post.
Virat Kohli and Anil Kumble
Viru's application comes on the back of stories of a rift between captain Virat Kohli and head coach Kumble floating around. The rumours have upset the Indian camp in England though there has been no official denial about the so-called differences between the two. But team members, according to sources, are miffed that such stories are appearing when they are about to kick off a very important 50-over event on June 4, the day of the India vs Pakistan clash at Birmingham.
Indian cricket's advisory panel -- Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman -- are expected to make peace between Kohli and Kumble.
In his tenure as India head coach, Kumble has led the team to victories in all tournaments in the last year.
The BCCI had earlier stated that it was calling upon interested candidates for the position of head coach of the national team and that to "ensure a fair and completely transparent process" a nominee of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) will oversee the process of selecting the best candidate.
Along with the CoA nominee, the BCCI's Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman will conduct interviews and seek presentations to select the best candidate.
