Team India coach | Phil Simmons joins Sehwag, Shastri in race

The prospects for the currently vacant post of Indian head coach have been gradually increasing, and the recent addition to the list was the name of former West Indies opener Phil Simmons. Sources within the Board for Control of Cricket in India(BCCI) in India and Trinidad, Simmons' home, confirmed that the 54-year old had forwarded his application, reported ToI.

The West Indian all-rounder made his mark in the cricketing circuit scoring 11682 runs and scalping 214 wickets in First-Class matches and following his retirement took up the responsibility of coaching West Indies twice. One of his stints saw him lead them to the World Twenty20 title in before he was sacked by the West Indies Cricket Board citing "differences in culture and strategic approach".

It would be interesting to see who will further apply for the post as the name of a South African legend being interested in the job has started doing rounds as well, reported ToI. At the moment, Ravi Shastri and Virender Sehwag are the two names that have emerged as favourites to take up the job with the former having an edge over Sehwag owing to his chemistry with Virat Kohli and previous experience as the Indian team's director. Richard Pybus, Tom Moody, Lalchand Rajput, and Dodda Ganesh have also applied for the post.

Meanwhile, BCCI members are scheduled to meet on July 11th to discuss the implementation of the Lodha reforms which is being seen as a preventive measure to avoid Supreme Court's condemnation as the Committee of Administrators(CoA) is scheduled to file a status report with regards to the adoption of the Lodha committee's reforms.