Ravi Shastri: I have applied for the chief coach's post

Shastri, whose contract as the team Director expired after the World T20 in India in March, told PTI that he has submitted his application for the post of the Head Coach.

The former Indian captain had earlier described his tenure with the BCCI as the “most memorable experience" of his cricketing career. Under Shastri's reign, the Indian team had won a histroic away test series in Sri Lanka before defeating South Africa 3-0 at home. India also won the Asia Cup T20 held in March before reaching the semi-final of the World T20.  

Shastri is the second high-profile name to apply for the job after Sandeep Patil, the current chief selector of the Indian cricket team. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had invited applications for the Team India head coach last week. The position has been vacant ever since Duncan Fletcher’s contract ended after the World Cup in 2015. The deadline for applying to the post is June 10, as BCCI President Anurag Thakur had announced earlier.    

The BCCI had listed nine criteria for the appointment of this post of which one of them was the ability to communicate in Hindi or one of the Indian languages. However, the governing body later amended the criteria to “the ability to communicate in an Indian language is desirable but by no means mandatory”. Regardless, the hints dropped so far clearly indicate BCCI is preferably looking for an Indian coach this time around.