Virender Sehwag, not Ravi Shastri, is now front-runner to become India's next coach: Report

The Indian cricket team is without a coach since the conclusion of ICC Champions Trophy after Anil Kumble's contract came to an end.

New Delhi: As the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) added more drama to the appointment of the next Indian coach by holding on to their decision, the fans might be mistaken if they think former Indian all-rounder Ravi Shastri is still the favourite for the job.

While Shastri's proximity with Indian skipper Virat Kohli is an open secret, the three-member panel comprising Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman interviewed five candidates on Monday in Mumbai.

According to a report in Cricket Next, the legendary troika was impressed with Sehwag's vision for the 2019 World Cup. But even though they think Sehwag is the right man for the job, they want to discuss it with Virat Kohli, who is likely to have a final say on the matter.

“The CAC met the five candidates available — Shastri, Sehwag, Richard Pybus, Tom Moody and Lalchand Rajput. And while everyone put in a good presentation, three men who stood out were Shastri, Sehwag and Moody. But after much deliberation and looking at the pros and cons, the CAC believes that Sehwag is the right candidate for the job as he impressed with his vision for the 2019 World Cup. Also, Sehwag had to answer the tricky question of how he would handle the coach-captain scenario and he was clear that cricket was a game where the captain held fort and the coach’s job was to man the backroom," the source was quoted as saying by Cricket Next.

Having said that, the CAC was also impressed by Shastri, who was team director of the Indian team for two years.

“But then, the door isn’t closed on Shastri either. The CAC was indeed impressed by his presentation and it was then decided that Kohli should be brought into the scene and the skipper should make the call because at the end of the day, it is the captain who will have to spend time with the coach and the equation cannot be compromised. But, what is understandable is that the CAC will not take responsibility if Kohli goes for Shastri and that will be a call taken by the skipper,” he added.

The Indian cricket team is without a coach since the conclusion of ICC Champions Trophy. While Kumble's contract came to an end, he refused to accept BCCI's proposal of a contract extension till the end of the West Indies tour citing the 'reservations' which Kohli had with his style of coaching.