India Coach's Job Garners Huge Interest; 57 Applicants From Home, Overseas

Indian cricket team's head coach's vacant post has garnered huge interest from around the world. A whopping 57 applications has been received by the Board of Control for Cricket in India by June 10, which was the last date to apply for the post.

Since Duncan Fletcher's departure after the 2015 World Cup the head coach's post was lying vacant. In the meantime, Ravi Shastri took over as the team director and guided the team in important tournaments like the World T20 and Asia Cup.

"BCCI has received a total of 57 applications from coaches within India and overseas," the national cricket body said in a release.

"The primary scrutiny of the applications received is now being carried out by the Office of the Honorary Secretary of the BCCI, with regards to the applicants, meeting the set eligibility criteria. After this initial scrutiny, the list of candidates who meet the criteria will be processed for further consideration."

Shastri, who guided the teams to wins in Asia Cup and Sri Lanka Test series as team dirctor, has also applied for the coach's post and is thought to be the front-runner.

Sandeep Patil, India's chief selector is also in the running to be the next India coach.

Apart from Shastri and Patil - both accomplished India players during their time - some of the other Indians who have applied for the top job include former seamers Venkatesh Prasad and Balwinder Singh Sandhu, and left-handed middle-order batsman of yesteryears Hrishikesh Kanitkar.

However, Shastri's group of support staff Bharat Arun, R Sridhar and Sanjay Bangar have not applied for the chief coach's post and probably will be waiting till BCCI comes up with the second set of recruitments on specialised coaches - namely batting, bowling and fielding.